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SEMICENTENNIAL PUBLICATIONS 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 




1868-1918 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



MODERN PHILOLOGY 



VOLUME 7 



CHARLES M. GAYLEY 

B>. K. SCHILLING 
RUDOLPH SCHEVILL 

EDITORS 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 

BERKELEY 
1919 



SEP 



•f ». 

25 1920 



LITERARY and PHILOLOGICAL 
STUDIES 



BY 



MEMBERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

ROMANIC LANGUAGES OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS 

BERKELEY 

t 

1919 



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CONTENTS 

Page 
1. Francisco Navarro Villoslada, by Beatrice Q. Cornish - - 1 

J 2. A Study of the Writings of D. Mariano Jose de Larra, 

1809-1837, by Elizabeth McGuire ------- 87 

3. Studies in Spanish Dramatic Versification of the sigh de 

oro: Alarcon and Moreto, by S. Griswold Morley - 131 

4. Lexicological Evolution and Conceptual Progress, by John 

Taggart Clark - ---_____ 175 

5. Chateaubriand, Les Natchez, livres I et II: contribution 

a l'etude des sources de Chateaubriand, par Gilbert 
Chinard ---------------- 201 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 



BY 
BEATRICE QUIJADA CORNISH 



: ! """ ' " ■ ' ■ '" I 






Autograph copy of sonnet written by Villoslada, about 1840. Eepro- 
duced 'through the Mndness of his daughter, Dona Petr-a Navarro Villoslada 
de Sendin. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA ' 

BY 

BEATEICE QUIJADA CORNISH 



This preliminary study of Francisco Navarro Villoslada is 
made because of the lack of any adequate discussion of his life 
and works. 2 No life of Villoslada has been published, no com- 



1 The subject of this paper was proposed to the writer by Professor 
Rudolph Schevill of the University of California. The writer gratefully 
records her acknowledgment to Professor Schevill, Professor S. G. Morley 
and Dr. C. W. Hackett for their helpful suggestions. 

2 The writer is in receipt of a letter, dated March 23, 1917, from 
Villoslada 's youngest daughter, dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, 
from which the following is quoted: "Hay aqui dos hombres que estudiar, 
uno politico que es el mas importante de su vida y otro literato. El 
politico no se ha estudiado todavia, mas que articulos sueltos publicados 
a la raiz de su muerte. Del literato tampoco se ha hecho un gran estudio 
aunque se trata de hacerlo. El P. Blanco, religioso augustino, trata de el 
en su obra la Literatura espanola en el siglo XIX. El P. Constantino Eguir, 
Jesuita, tambien esta publicando una obra del mismo genero, y me ha 
pedido datos para juzgarle como literato. Parece ser que quiere tener 
ese trabajo para su centenario, y por ultimo el P. Juan N. Gov, reden- 
torista, ha escrito una bastante extensa biografia con el titulo 'Flores del 
cielo, ' que ha publicado en la revista ascetica que esos Padres escriben 
titulada El Perpetuo Socorro. La indole religiosa de la revista no le ha 
permitido considerarle sino como modelo de hombres virtuosos. ... El 
P. Gov ha sentido mucho no poderse extender mas en sus juicios literarios 
y politicos, pero el limite a que estaba sometido se lo impedia y sus escritos 
han aparecido muy tachados . . . Estoy dispuesta, con la ayuda de Dios, 
a facilitar a V. todos los datos que necesita para su proyecto . . . hoy 
me limito a dar a V. una ligerisima idea de lo que desea, y lo hago sin 
perder tiempo, para aprovechar correos que quiza dentro de poco nos 
fait en. ' ' 

Grateful acknowledgment is due dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de 
Sendin for the valuable information contained in her letter, and for Gov's 
admirable biographical sketch, received through her efforts. "Whatever 
the writer of these pages may have to say in this preliminary study 
merely constitutes the connecting links which unite the material received 
from doiia Petra. with isolated facts wherever obtainable, and observa- 
tions made from Villoslada 's available writings. 



2 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

prehensive literary criticism has been written, no political esti- 
mate of the man has been attempted, no complete bibliography 
of his works is possible, because of the difficulty of procuring 
all the items at this writing and also of the vast amount of un- 
published material. 3 Yet the recording of whatever tends to 
illustrate a character, which the more it is studied and developed 
will be the more admired and respected, is a sufficient reason 
for the presentation of this paper. 4 

The year 1918 will mark the celebration in Pamplona of the 
centenary of the birth of Villoslada. 5 The desire of the writer 
in this study has been to secure a more general appreciation and 
esteem of the character and genius of a man who has received but 
slight recognition, either here or abroad, 6 but whose name pos- 
terity will place on a very high plane. 7 

Francisco Navarro Villoslada, the great historical novelist of 
the romantic school, 8 was born in Viana, 9 Navarre, 10 on the ninth 



3 Juan N. Goy, "Flores del cielo, " in el Perpetuo Socorro, num. 179, 
p. 416 : ' ' Sobre mi mesa de estudio tengo verdaderos montones de legajos 
de poesias sueltas, dramas, sainetes, comedias, y eso que esta parte de la 
produccion de Villoslada se ha perdido mucho, ni se ha reducido todo a cata- 
logo, porque el mismo dejo muchas composiciones en simples bocetos, 6 por 
terminar, 6 sin darles la ultima mano, y casi en su totalidad han quedado 
ineditas. ' ' Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 
1917: "Ha dejado varias novelas comenzadas ineditas, con plan entera- 
mente iilosonco y escritas con ese lenguage tan castizo que es de lo que mas 
se admira en sus escritos. " 

4 Blanco Garcia, La Literatura espafiola en el siglo XIX, II, 272, 274. 

5 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917 : 
"Va pues a cumplirse su centenario el ano que viene y estan tratando 
en Navarra de celebrarlo honrosamente. Los navarros tratan de hacerle 
un centenario en Pamplona y han empezado por pedir en las Cortes todos 
los diputados de la Provincia por unanimidad, que se conceda bronce para 
un monumento. Como las Cortes se han cerrado ha quedado esa proposicion 
sin resolver. Quieren tambien que se represente en Pamplona el dia del 
centenario una opera que ha compuesto un vascongado sobre Amaya y otras 
muchas cosas, como juegos florales que las acogen en la Provincia con entu- 
siasmo y sin distincion de partido, considerandolo unicamente como una 
gloria nacional. ' ' 

s Goy, op. cit., num. 179, p. 416: "De Navarro Villoslada poco 6 casi 
nada se ha escrito hasta ahora. ' ' 

7 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 272. 

8 Ibid., I, 369; II, 272. 

9 Goy, op. cit., num. 173, p. 161: "Es ciudad poco notable, que se alza 
en una colina, dominando una llanura en que pastan multitud de ganados. 
La fundo Sancho el Fuerte, que la convirtio en muy respetable ciudad de 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 3 

of October, 1818. X1 He was baptized on the tenth of October, 
1818, and was named Francisco because it was the feast day of 
Saint Francis Borja. His mother's brother, Juan Jose Navarro 
Villoslada baptized him, and another brother, Felix, Canonigo de 
Santiago, was his godfather. 12 He was confirmed, according to 
his own statement, in 1826, and received his first communion in 
1827. 



13 



His early years were spent in rural Viana, in that historic 
Basque province of Navarre, where he imbibed that love of nature 
which is one of his marked characteristics. He also displayed at 
an early age an intense interest and love for the antiquities of 



armas. Hoy lo mas notable en ella son la iglesia de Santa Maria y los restos 
de un antiguo castillo de la Edad Media. Su poblacion sera de unas 2,800 
almas. 

"En 1423 fue elegida capital de un principado compuesto de varios 
pueblos, que el Key de Xavarra Don Carlos III, el Noble, erigio el 26 de 
Enero del mismo ano en las Cortes de Olite, en favor de su nieto Don Carlos 
y de todos los que en adelante fuesen sueesores de la corona de Navarra. 

"Luchando con los castellanos, cuando sin fortuna y cuando con ella, si 
Mosen Pierres de Peralta, el Esforzado, no la pudo libertar de la coyunda 
de Enrique IV, supo tomar un soberbio desquite en 1466, ayudada por el 
Conde de Lerin. En ambas guerras civiles del pasado siglo recibio el 
bautismo de sangre, en las dos aceiones de que fue teatro por los ahos de 
34 y 73. 

"Xo tan escasa de blasones debio de ser Viana, cuando en ella radican 
y de ella traen su origen las nobles casas de Torre-Muzquiz, Ezpeleta y 
Guendulain, sin otras mas que no han llegado a noticia nuestra. " 

io Ibid., pp. 160-61: "El aire de las altas sierras, libre de todo miasma 
impura, regenera y fortifica a los cuerpos, y el instinto de independencia, de 
elevaeion, de libertad bien entendida, vigoriza a los caracteres, tonifica a 
las almas. Xavarra, por su fe, por su libertad. por su sacrificio. madre 
fecunda de ilustres hijos . . . aquella nacion de heroes, 'que supo aniquilar 
cuanto a. su empuje se oponia; que ensefio a morir en los muros de Calahorra 
y a veneer en las asperezas de Eoncesvalles; que en las estrechuras de Olast 
y en las margenes del Ebro y del Cidacos demonstro que su arrojo era 
inaudito ; que en los campos de Andalucia rompio las cadenas que sujetaban 
a los viles esclavos, y en los sangrientos campos del Muradal, como en 
Simancas y Huesca, y en Zaragoza y Palestina, supo alcanzar laureles in- 
marcesibles, reverdecidos por el ardiente sol de Cartago y contemplados con 
asombro por los gloriosos llanos de Greeia. ' " Ibid., num. 180, p. 465: 
11 . . . tierra de las encinas y de los fuertes caracteres con blando corazon. 
cortos en razones, en obras largos, de mucho temor a Dios, de ninguna a los 
hombres. ' ' 

n Letter of dona Petra Xavarro Villoslada de Sendin. 

12 Gov, op. tit., pp. 161-62. 

1 3 Ibid., num. 173, p. 162. The following dates appear in his diarv, 
•which he transcribed five times: "Ano 1826: fui confirmado. Ano 1827: 
recibi la primera Comunion • tenia entonces nueve anos. ' ' 



4 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

the land of his forefathers, which ripened with years. 14 The 
"whole land," to use the poetical language of Allan Cunning- 
ham, ' ' is alive with song and story. ' ' Such was the country upon 
which opened the eyes and imagination of Villoslada. His home 
life with his parents at this secluded spot, in those impressionable 
boyhood days, was undoubtedly fraught with many advantages, 
physical and mental. 15 The favorite pursuits of Villoslada 's 
youth, the attractions of his boyhood days, did not lose their 
charm. The picturesque incident, the color of the past, the mere 
look of its varied activity appealed to him strongly. 16 Here he 



I* See La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, 1877, no. 1, pp. 6, 10, 30-31; 
Ibid., XXXIX (1895), num. 33, p. 130: "Navarro Villoslada estudiaba la 
cronica y las costumbres de un periodo historico espafiol, y le hacia revivir 
en forma novelesca con asunto propio y no imitado; era discipulo del 
novelista ingles, pero autor espafiol y original, como todos los que sigan este 
procedimiento, mas dificil que en otros paises en el nuestro. " 

is Goy, op. cit., num. 173, p. 161 : ' ' Todas las cualidades de esta tierra 
tuvo Navarro Villoslada, alma eminentemente navarra, ni le falto aquella 
tenacidad, 6 llamemosla terquedad, que a los hijos de esta region hace in- 
adaptables a todo lo que no vaya paralelo con sus ideas, usos y costumbres, 
como no sea de un metal decididamente de mas subidos quilates. " 

is Ibid., num. 174, pp. 210-11 : Villoslada thus delightfully describes 
the home life of his youth: "En una ciudad de Espafia vivia cierta 
familia cristiana, cuyo nombre veda estampar el respeto. Componiase de 
marido y mujer y siete hijos, cuatro de ellos varones. Toda aquella prole 
habia nacido, no ya en la misma casa, sino en la alcoba misma en que mu- 
rieron sus antepasados: todos aquellos hijos recibieron en ella la postrera 
bendicion de su padre, el cual, desde el lecho que fue su primer abrigq, y su 
talamo veinte afios despues, volo al cielo, a recibir, confiado en la divina 
misericordia, el premio de sus virtudes. 

' ' Levantabanse todos al romper el dia, la madre la primera, aunque se 
acostaba la ultima, a fuer de vigilante y hacendosa. No tenia mucha litera- 
tura, pero era de esas amas de gobierno que, al decir de Fray Luis de Leon, 
son, con el buey, el fundamento de una casa: el buey para que are y la 
mujer para que guarde. 

"Los dias que tocaba amasar, la madrugada era espantosa, pues aunque 
solo se hacia en casa el pan de los criados, decia aquella sefiora que, si el 
ojo del amo eugorda al caballo, las manos del ama en la artesa eran ahorro 
de sabanas y medicinas. Ignoro si por razones higienicas 6 por espiritu de 
economia, cuidaba de que jamas se comiese el pan caliente, y de que se 
sentase a lo menos veinticuatro horas. 

"En pos de la mujer saltaba de la cama el marido, el cual, asi que daba 
gracias a Dios, iba a ver las yuntas para cerciorarse de que estaban bien 
piensadas, y luego recibia al mayor, capataz, hacedor 6 baile, — que de todas 
estas maneras se denomina, — y se informaba de cuaiitos peones 6 jornaleros 
podia disponer, distribuyeudolos por labores y heredades, mirando siempre 
al cielo y a la veleta de la vecina torre, para pronosticar el tiempo, y por el 
la clase de trabajo en que debia emplearse el dia . . . 

"De los cuatro varones de su linaje, tres, siguiendo la tradicion 6 cos- 
tumbre espanola, que recuerda Cervantes, seguian sendas clasicas carreras 



FEANCISCO NAVARRO YILLOSLADA 5 

began to acquire that intimate acquaintance with the character 

and life of the Basques, which developed, until he is now known 

as the Walter Scott of Basque traditions. 17 Feeling the appeal 

of the old and curious, his writings substantiate the verdict of 

Blanco Garcia: 

Todas las prendas que solicita el genero, lo veridico de la narracion, 
el conocimiento y dibujo de las figuras, y sobre todo aquel acomodarse a 
las costumbres de remotos siglos y civilizaciones, haciendolas sentir en 
vez de analizarlas friamente, descubren al novelista de raza, que no lo 
es, como tantos otros, por capricho 6 por aficion esteril.is 

"The child is father of the man 7 ' is true of Villoslada. In 
him as in so many great men, the man and the child refuse 



de iglesia, armas y letras; el uno, en el Seminario diocesano; el otro, en el 
Colegio de Artilleria, y el tercero, en la Universidad; pero en casa de un tio 
carnal de severisimas costumbres, sin cuya garantia no hubieran consentido 
los padres que pisara las aulas. El cuarto hijo, que cultivaba la hacienda, 
preferia una buena cazuela de sopas con chorizo 6 pimientos colorados al 
mejor soconusco. 

"El te y el cafe no parecian jamas en la mesa del desayuno, mas no 
eran completamente desconocidos en aquellas regiones: el primero se traia 
de la botica para los eolicos, y el segundo se tomaba despues de comer los 
dias que repicaban gordo. 

"Las hijas, en cambio, no faltaban nunca al chocolate matutino, que 
solian exornar con bizcochos 6 bunuelos, de sus manos. Si el padre 6 la 
madre, por haber pasado mala noche, alguna que otra vez se levantaban 
tarde, el chocolate se tomaba alrededor de la cama historica y casi monu- 
mental, sobre las rodillas de los concurrentes. 

' ' Fuese en uno ti otro sitio, todos se santiguaban antes del primer sorbo ; 
todos oian misa diaria. Cuidaba la madre de que los criados se confesaran 
una vez al mes. Ella y sus hijas lo hacian con mas frecuencia, sin que esta 
piadosa practica interrumpiese en lo mas minimo las ocupaciones ordi- 
narias, ni alterase la hora del desayuno." Ibid., num. 177, p. 324: Villos- 
lada, speaking of his father, says : " . . . cogia la escopeta, ensillaba 6 no su 
jaca, segun lo que se propusiera andar; recorria algunos pagos y terminos 
donde yacian sus tineas, especialmente el de la heredad que se estaba 
labrando, y de paso mataba la perdiz al vuelo, 6 la liebre al raso, y el cone jo 
entre matas, no desperdiciando ocasion, ni errando apenas tiro, gracias a 
su ojo certero y, sobretodo, a Paz, hermosisima perra, a la cual, segun el 
decia, no le faltaba mas que hablar." Ibid., num. 177, pp. 324-25, Villoslada, 
speaking of his sisters, says: "... cuando por caso extraordinario tenian 
necesidad de dirigir el hogar, presentaban en la mesa platos exquisitos,.hila- 
ban, cosian. planchaban, bordaban y hacian primores con la aguja . . . 
preparada [referring to the table] con el mayor esmero por las hijas, siendo 
siempre recibidos con regocijo y aun con algazara cuando por entre las 
mallas de la mochila asomaba la azulada pluma 6 la parda y leonada piel, 
suceso que, a pesar de ser asaz frecuente, se celebraba como singular y pere- 
grino, por venir de quien venia y por lo mucho que el cazador se gozaba con 
tales demostraciones y lisonjas. " 

17 Blanco Garcia, op. tit., II, 272. 

is Ibid., I, 347. 



6 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

to be separated ; they are always one. We find clear and full 
exemplification in his boyhood of many noble qualities — manly 
feelings, honesty and invincible perseverance. These character- 
istics ripened and expanded. As one reviews Villoslada's life, 
there is traceable in him a unity, amidst great breadth both as a 
man and a writer. "With his seriousness we already find a 
genuineness and naturalness in little Paquito. There are many 
interesting anecdotes related of the boy in these early years 
which not only amuse but win the heart as well. They are very 
characteristic, "the kindness of that loving young heart and its 
early roguery, show the identity of the bud with the noble flower 
of after years." 19 

His parents were . Manuel Navarro Villoslada y Fernandez 
Maraiion and Pilar Navarro Villoslada y Sabando. He was the 
second of eight children but on account of the death of the eldest, 
Villoslada very early in life assumed the responsibilities of the 
first-born. He developed a seriousness unusual for his years and 
acquired a fondness for reading and study. The word Pensar 
written in his diary under date of 1828 probably refers to his 
practice of stealing away to some solitary nook with his young 
playmate, Felix Erenchun, to think over what they had read. 20 

At the age of eleven Villoslada had had two years of Latin, 
and his teacher appreciating his rapid progress, said of him: 
' ' j Este nino ha venido al mundo con dos anos de Filosof ia ! • ' 21 
He also delighted in writing, and although we have not the date, 



is Goy, op. tit., num. 173, p. 162: "Era ya por entonces, aunque tan 
nino, aficionadisimo a los estudios literarios, que fueron los amores de toda 
su vida; y para con mas provecho dedicarse a ellos, retirabase con un ami- 
guito suyo a parajes solitarios, y alii, con mucho recogimiento, se pasaban 
largos ratos el y Felix Erenchun pensando en lo que habian leido. " Ibid., 
p. 163: Eef erring to his early training, Villoslada says: "Por lo menos 
tres anos estuve en la escuela con un domine famoso por su chupa, como 
todos los domines, por sus zancas y ... los azotes . . . lleve algunos ; unas 
veces, porque salia a pasear extramuros; otras, porque llevaba cortado el 
pelo a lo flamason, y otras, por no se que disputas que tenian el domine y mi 
padre. Mas a pesar de tantos zurriagazos, para los cuales, como casos 
reservados, no valia el / Domine, parce !, del latin me quede en ayunas, etc. ' ' 

20 Ibid. 

2i Ibid., p. 164. 



FRANCISCO NAVAEBO YILLOSLADA 7 

it appears from references to these early years, that about this 
time he wrote some picarescas cuartillas entitled Viaje alrededor 
de mi mesa. 22 

He was nearly eleven 23 when he left Viana to attend the 
University at Santiago de Galicia. 24 In this university he se- 
riously began work as a student, and in this city he was destined 
to remain some seven years pursuing his studies. 25 After having 
been examined in Latin, he matriculated as a student in philos- 



22 ibid., p. 163. 

23 Ibid., num. 177, p. 321: Under date of September 20, 1829, there 
appears in Villoslada's diary: "Hoy sali de Viana con los tios D. Lucas y 
D. Felix y con Felix Erenchun. " Ibid., num. 178, p. 365: There is an 
interesting description in Villoslada's novel Historic/, de muchos Pepes, 
wherein his journey from Viana to Santiago de Galicia may well have served 
as the basis: "Aunque yo deseaba hacer mi entrada [he is speaking of 
Madrid] en carro triunfal, en silla de postas 6 en diligencia por lo menos, 
hube de zamparme en una galera. Si del hombre no se hubiera dicho que 
es un mundo abreviado, aplicaria yo esta hiperbole a la galera, maquina 
cuyo fin no se divisa, destinada a hacer jornadas que no tienen fin. Todo 
cabe en ella, y cuando esta repleta, en ella caben tambien los viajeros que al 
mayoral le da la gana. Si falta espacio para la carga, lo usurpa al camino 
y, a semejanza de esas casas de la Edad Media, que se ensanchan con vola- 
dizos, sus dominios son ilimitados, merced a las protuberancias laterales. 

" — Mientras con rostro compungido buscas en vano la solucion del pro- 
blema, persuadido de que tu cuerpo nada tiene de glorioso, resuelven practi- 
camente la dificultad trepando del estribo a la llanta, de la llanta al pescante 
y del pescante a la seccion imperceptible de arco que forman los fardos y 
el tpldo, primero una militara con tres ninos, luego un fraile con su breviario, 
en seguida tres estudiantes con cinco guitarras, dos nodrizas, una con su 
rorro y otra con su perro . . . j Santo Dios ! , exclamaba yo viendo desa- 
parecer aquella interminable procesion por tan imperceptible rendija; £,es 
esta la ballena de Jonas, que se engulle los hombres como torreznos; es 
algun hormiguero, es por ventura el area de Noe?" 

24 For a short history of la Universidad de Santiago see Semanario 
Pintoresco Espafiol, X, 153-55 ; Goy, op. cit., num. 178, p. 366, says of 
Galicia : . . . " esa tierra de los hermosos rios, de los erguidos montes, 
inspiradora de artistas, emporio de almas delicadas, tierra gallega, de 
riberas abruptas, de rias magnificas, de amenos campos, madre de poetas 
. . . " Eef erring specifically to Santiago, he continues: . . . "la ciudad 
levitica por excelencia, la ciudad, diremos con el eminente estilista Villelga 
Eodriguez, de calles angostas, costaneras. que guardan, a pesar de lo nuevo 
de los tiempos, firme y bien acusado caracter. Alii esta la Catedral, que 
refleja la grandeza de Dios con su severa arquitectura ; la Catedral, con su 
Portico de la Gloria, poema sublime entonado por la piedra hecha vida, al 
que arraneo tan lapidarias estrofas el genio de la cantora de Follas novas; 
alii ... el Hospital magnifico y el gran Monasterio de San Martin Pinario ; 
el macizo, antiguo convento de Santo Domingo ; la Quintana, con la inmensa 
mole de San Pelayo, y la plaza del Hospital, con la Casa del Pueblo, con la 
batalla de Clavijo en el eminente timpano, coronandolo todo la estatua 
ecuestre de Santiago. ' ' 

25 Ibid., num. 178, p. 366. 



8 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ophy. 26 His attendance at the university 27 continued until June, 
1832, when the universities of Spain were closed because of polit- 
ical reasons, and he was obliged to continue his work in philoso- 
phy in the ancient Seminario del Campo de Santa Susana, under 
Mondragon. From October, 1832 to March, 1836, he devoted 
himself to the study of theology. 28 That Villoslada 's love of 
letters was his dominating interest is evident since he found time 
while pursuing more serious work in philosophy, to appoint 
himself at the tender age of twelve, editor of a manuscript review 
which he fitly named la Abeja. The editorship was complicated 
by the poetic tastes of his chief collaborator, Felix Erenchun, 
who fearlessly appropriated from the works of Garcilaso, pre- 
senting the poems to the editor as his original contribution. 
Villoslada accepted them, and unconsciously, perhaps, realiz- 
ing their merit, struggled in vain to imitate the efforts of his 
young friend. 29 Upon the occasion of Villoslada's aunt pro- 
fessing as a nun, he wrote a poem in her honor, bearing the 
interesting title : Panegirico espafiol, Poesia en octavas heroicas. 
He made a notation at the end of the poem: "Estd por limar, y 
se reputara por falsa la que no lleve mi firma. Navarro. Soy 
testigo. Erenchun." This poem consisted of thirty octavas 
reales. 50 He was at this time thirteen years of age. 

Villoslada wrote many more verses while at Santiago. In 



26 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin : ' ' Estudio latin, 
retorica, filosof ia y teologia en la Universidad de Santiago, Galicia. ' ' 

27 Goy, op. Git., num. 178, p. 367: "Vivia Navarro Villoslada f rente por 
frente de la Universidad, hermoso templo alzado a las ciencias, construido a 
fines del siglo XVIII por el arquitecto D. Jose Maria Machado. _ Tiene 
este edificio una severa fachada, adornada de bellas columnas jonicas, y 
sobre la portada se yergue, simbolica, la estatua de Minerva. En su biblio- 
teea, copiosa y escogida, guardase la bandera que el regimiento denomi- 
nado de Literarios, formado por escolares de esta Universidad, tremolo con 
gloria en los campos de batalla durante la guerra de la Independencia. ' ' 

28 Ibid., num. 178, pp. 367ff. 

29 Ibid., p. 366. 

so Ibid., pp. 368-69 : D a . Dominica Navarro, who in religion was known 
as Hermana Maria de los Angeles. Goy aptly notes : " Y hay que ver como 
sin idea, porque alii la idea se va por las nubes, y no por sobra de poetica, 
hay "que ver como el poeta de trece abriles zurce treinta octavas reales, las 
cuales, si leyo la nueva esposa del Cordero, sin duda que hubo de caer en el 
mas placido de los misticos suenos." 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 9 

his diary are mentioned, "Versos a los seminaristas, Egloga a 
Cacheiras, Yersos al tio Nazario. " From his personal corre- 
spondence we learn that he had in Santiago as his guide and 
master at this time, Pedro Losada, whom he consulted on doubt- 
ful points and whom he had voluntarily appointed as severe 
censor of his poetic efforts. 31 The education of Villoslada at 
Santiago was entrusted primarily to his two uncles D. Felix and 
D. Lucas, canons. 32 The care bestowed upon their charge was 
constant and rigorous. 33 His gratitude is evidenced in the dedi- 
cation of his novel dona Vrraca de Castilla: 

Amados tios: ahi va esta obra, al f rente de la cual he osado poner el 
nombre de ustedes respetable por sus solidas virtudes, respetable por su 
dignidad sacerdotal. Esta obra es una novela, y temo por lo mismo haber 
abusado de la confianza que me inspira su carifio, dedicandoles un escrito 
de este genero. Pero no tengo otra cosa mas seria y mas importante que 
ofrecerles; y como despues de mis padres son ustedes las personas a 
quienes debo mas en el mundo, porque les debo la educacion, el peso de 
la gratitud es bastante grave para mi, y tenia yo cierta impaciencia por 
aligerarlo. 

No es ahora, sin embargo, mas liviano. La gratitud puede ser eom- 
parada al sol, que derramando luz y calor en todo el universo, jamas 
pierde un solo grado de vigor y de intensidad, un atomo de su fuego 
perdurable. 3- 

At the age of fourteen he had completed his last year of 
philosophical studies, and received minor orders in the priest- 
hood. His mother considered that he was not called to the 
religious life, particularly in such tender years, and further 



si Ibid., num. 179, p. 416 : When in later years, Villoslada referred to 
his master Losada, he said: "Parecia ser pariente muy cercano de algun 
perro, por lo mucho que en la eritiea mordia. " 

32 Ibid., num. 178, pp. 366-67: "Cuando llego Navarro Villoslada a 
Santiago, aun era esta ciudad capital del reino de Galicia y de una provincia 
que ocupaba 242 leguas de superficie. Tenia dos regimientos provinciales, el 
de su nombre y el de Compostela. No perdonamos a nuestro biografiado el 
no haber dejado en parte alguna consignadas sus impresiones a la vista de 
Santiago, aunque, a decir verdad, cerca de diez y siete anos despues habia 
de hacer a la ciudad del Apostol escenario de una de sus mejor pensadas y 
mas galanamente escritas novelas: Dona Vrraca de Castilla." 

™Ibid., p. 370: Writing home under date of March 7, 1832, Villoslada 
refers to his subjection in this characteristic manner: "Por esta hemos 
pasado unos Carnavales muy divertidos, siendo nuestra principal diversion 
el ir de casa al sermon y del sermon a casa. ' ' 

34 Dona Vrraca de Castilla, Memorias de ires canonigos. 



10 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

preparation for the priesthood ceased. 35 He was to have con- 
tinued his studies and to have completed his fourth year of the- 
ology, graduating in June, 1836, but in May of this same year we 
find him home in Viana. 36 The spread of the war in the north 
had forced his return and he was pressed into service as a mem- 
ber of the national militia. 37 
It will be recalled that : 

The French occupation of Spain continued until 1828; but the absolute 
power which this secured for Ferdinand VII continued, in spite of spas- 
modic uprisings, until his death in September, 1833. By a so-called "Prag- 
matic Sanction" he had suspended the Salic law before his death, and 
declared his daughter Isabella heir to the throne, to which she succeeded 
under the regency of her mother, Queen Christina. Her right was disputed 
by her uncle, Don Carlos, the younger brother of the late king, and to 
strengthen her position the Estatuto Real, a compromise between absolut- 
ism and the Constitution of 1812, was proclaimed. From this time Spain 



35 Goy, op. cit., num. 179, pp. 413-14: "Por Agosto de 1832, mientras 
acababa el ultimo ano de Filosofia, tuvo Villoslada en Santiago la visita de 
su madre. Mucho se complacio esta senora en ver el buen comportamiento 
de Francisco, del cual no tenian la mas ligera queja sus severisimos men- 
tores y queridos tios D. Lucas y D. Felix, antes si queja habia, era contra 
ellos, por el excesivo rigor con que, llevados de su rectitud y carino, edu- 
caban a su docil sobrino. Compadeciose mucho la madre al ver que su hi jo 
no tenia toda la expansion licita y sencilla que a su edad correspondia. 

"Era ya a la sazon, a lo que creo, Villoslada clerigo, pues aunque, como 
en carta suya de este ano se ve, no pudo tonsurarse en las ordenes generales 
del 7 de Marzo, por no llegar de Calahorra a su debido tiempo los docu- 
mentos necesarios, tonsurole despues en las ordenes de Abril el Excmo. Sr. 
D. Eafael Muzquiz y Aldunete, Arzobispo de Santiago a la sazon, y algo 
pariente de nuestro biografiado. Obedecio este apresuramiento en recibir 
las ordenes menores, a la necesidad que de ellas tenia, por haber sido agra- 
ciado con las capellanias del Eosario y de la Misa de once. Asi que la buena 
de D a . Pilar encontrose con su hi jo convertido ya en clerigo a los catorce 
anos, vistiendo habitos talares, los cuales, por una rareza de sus tios, nada 
tenian de rozagantes, dado que el manteo no andaba muy por debajo de la 
media pierna, y manejando ya el Breviario, cuyo rezo era una de las car gas 
de las Capellanias que servia. 

"Era muy natural que la madre creyera lo que todos presagiaban del 
porvenir de aquel tan ejemplar estudiante, para quien el Santuario parecia 
ofrecerse con todas las sefiales de vocacion del cielo. Pero fuera por lo que 
fuera, y sin duda que seria en virtud de esa misteriosa clarividencia con que 
el ojo de las madres suele leer en el alma de sus hijos, el caso es que D. a 
Pilar partiose de Santiago con la persuasion de que su hijo tenia marcadas 
tendencias a la vida de sociedad, y de que Dios no le llamaba al ministerio 
sacerdotal. ' ' 

se Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin : " . . . tuvo que 
suspender sus estudios por las vicisitudes de la guerra civil, que duro siete 
anos. ' ' 

3 7 Goy, op. cit., num. 179, p. 415. 



FRANCISCO NAVAREO VILLOSLADA 11 

was given up to the struggle between two principles; the "Carlists" 
upholding the banner of absolutism and divine right; the other party, to 
whatever dynasty or government it might be attached, maintaining the 
principle of liberalism and popular government. 38 

It happened that about this time (1836), encouraged by the 
disturbed state of the government, the Carlists planned to push 
forward from their stronghold in the north into central Spain. 
If Carlism was ever to spread beyond the Basque provinces and 
Navarre, this was its opportunity, and General Miguel Gomez 
was determined to seize it. He advanced almost to the gates of 
Madrid, unfurled the flag of the Pretender in Cordoba and 
Almaden, entered Andalusia and approached Cadiz, finally 
returning to the Carlist headquarters on the Ebro, after a cam- 
paign of five months, having out-generalled the best commanders 
of the queen, whose army was badly disorganized. The new 
revolutionary government of Calatrava in the meantime pressed 
into service in the national militia all single men and widowers 
without issue from eighteen to forty years of age, and appointed 
Espartero to the supreme command of the army. These were 
to serve in their native towns against the facciosos. It was, 
therefore, the lot of Villoslada to serve in Viana, and his duties 
are laconically described in his apuntes intimos as "Guardias y 
Oficio Divino." Espartero directed his energies to the reor- 
ganization of the army, and was in a measure prepared to raise 
the coming siege of Bilbao, which was even then being planned by 
the Carlists. 39 

The long drawn agony which afflicted Spain had exerted its 
influence upon the young mind of Villoslada ; in fact, the revolu- 
tion in France in July, 1830, had not passed entirely unnoticed, 
judging from Villoslada 's later writings. 40 The war of 1833 and 
its consequent stirring events impressed our author deeply. He 
bitterly denounced this war in which he was forced to take a 
part, although it was an insignificant one, and his opposition was 
deepened by the disappearance of his uncle Nazario with three 



38 Phillips, Modern Europe, p. 128. 

39 Hume, Modern Spain, pp. 334-35 ; Goy, op. cit., num. 179, p. 415. 

40 Goy, op. cit., num. 178, p. 369. 



12 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

other companions in 1836, who it is believed were assassinated by 
the Carlists. Villoslada condemned this atrocity in some verses 
entitled Romance al Tio Nazario.* 1 The same year he wrote 
Al otono del 1833, a poem whose spirit guerra entre hermanos 
Villoslada could not vindicate. 42 Personifying autumn he ap- 
peals to that season for an explanation of the reasons why situa- 
tions such as those engendered by war should ever be. The 
sentiments of this youth of eighteen seem to demonstrate an 
idealistic yearning of an indefinable character. A few stanzas 
give an idea of the whole : 

; Guerra, guerra! clamo con voz tronante; 
y retumbaron / guerra! los collados, 
al estrepito ■ horrendo conturbados: 
/guerra! grito Pirene vacilante: 
El Ebro turbulento, 
cubriendo su cristal de nieve fria, 
/ guerra! en sus hondas grutas repetia. 

Al belico alarido, 
escondiendo la faz entre las manos, 
Espana dio un gemido, 
gritando con horror; /guerra entre hermanos! 

^Cual crimen cometieron 
los espantados pueblos sin ventura 
para tanto rigor? Otono impio, 
&por que llenaste el cauce de amargura, 
de llanto j de miseria, 
tii, balsamica fuente para Iberia? 

;Ay! j cuantas congojas 
en pos de ella han venido! 
j cuanto luto y gemido ! 
Entonces ;oh dolor! de mustias hojas 
los campos doloridos se vistieron; 
y agobiadas se vieron 
sobre la helada nieve 
con hinchados racimos secas vides; 



4i Ibid., num. 179, p. 415; num. 178, p. 369: "Mas fuertes aun las que 
sintio el afio 33 al primer fogonazo de la guerra civil, de la que cantaba en 
una poesia, que no vio la luz publica hasta el 41, pero ya estaba en cartera 
desde el 36." 

42 IMd., num. 178, p. 369. See also Semanario Pintoresco Lspanol (2), 
III (1841), 39-40. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 13 

otono, otono aleve 

la mano arrebato vendimiadora 

al sacrilego campo de las lides. 

Y aquella pura mano, acostumbrada 

a cortar seca mies, negros racimos, 

jay! con horror la vimos 

el acero vibar ensangrentada. 

;E1 acero feroz y esterminante, 

que derribo con barbara pujanza 

de una madre el orgullo y la esperanza, 

la Candida ilusion de fino amante! 

jHijas del Ebro, aun siento 
vuestro agudo y fatidico lamento! 
I, Donde correis freneticas? adonde, 
cual tremulas bacantes, 
con ojos centellantes, 
y revuelto el cabello destrenzado 
por el pecho agitado? 
j Hi jo, Esposo! clamais con grito agudo, 
las vinas solitarias, 

ricas por vuestro mal atravesando . . . 
y hasta el eco esta mudo! 
;Hijo, Esposo! las voces esforzando; 
callais, en escuchar absorta el alma, 
y del otono sientese en la calma 
el bronce pavoroso retumbando. 

i Otono, otono, y cuanto me estremece 
tu nombre aborrecido, 
tan grato en otro tiempo, tan querido ! 

& Donde van, donde los tranquilos anos 
de venturosa union? g Donde el otono 
que raudales de jubilo brotaba, 
y cual vino aromatico la prensa, 
en torno la abundancia rebosaba? 

jLa guerra! . . . Yo deliro! . . . 
&En donde estas, mi vida, mi consuelo? 
En vano en derredor buscando miro 
los bienes que soiie: cubierto el suelo 
de victimas y horror mudo responde 
a mi grata ilusion . . . Fue, fue el otono 
de abundancia y de paz sobre la tierra, 
en deleites balsamicos fecundo; 
y llenan hoy el ambito del mundo 
llanto, desolacion, infanda guerra! 



14 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

This period of Villoslada 's life was productive in poetry, but 
practically nothing has been done with his works. They remain 
unpublished for the most part. It would appear that his success 
as a journalist, politician, lawyer, and above all, as a novelist, so 
completely took precedence in his later years, that although he 
continued to write poetry abundantly up to 1850, 43 this side of 
his genius has, 44 naturally enough, been almost entirely over- 
looked. That poetic sensibility was not lacking may be deduced 
from his own words : 

Una ciega pasion me arrastra al templo de las musas. ... A- solas con- 
migo mismo tengo mis consuelos, mis extasis deliciosos, porque la poesia es 
para mi una de aquellas islas de verdura, que surgen en los inmensos 
arenales de los desiertos africanos. |,Que fuera de mi, si la poesia, que 
con una mano enjuga las amargas lagrimas de la triste realidad, no diera 
suelta con otra al dulce llanto de la ilusion encantadora? 

Then, as if the specter of war which hovered over his native town 

oppressed his spirit, he continues : 

Mientras en vez de aromas y frescuras exhalen las orillas del Ebro 
negro vapor de la sangre caliente, tendre que resignarme como Moises 
al ver de lejos la tierra prometida, acaso para morir como el sin besarla 
con mis labios. Pero te aseguro que, ni encerrado en una triste ciudad, 
no me abandonaran mi lira y mis cantares, como no abandonaron a Milton 
y a Cervantes en la obscuridad de una prision, y en el momento en que 
suene en mi alma la voz de la poesia, lanzare una mirada desdenosa a los 
mortales que se llaman felices. Por eso quisiera que esa nubemagica 
que me rodea no se disipase jamas. 45 



43 Goy, op. cit., num. 179, p. 416: "Hasta cierta epoca, muy cerca del 
50, escribio versos, iba a decir, a granel. ' ' 

Villoslada wrote some poetry after 1850. His ode to Pius IX was writ- 
ten in 1867 while recuperating from an illness at the mineral springs at 
Marmolejo {Ibid., num. 279, pp. 119-21). This is in part as follows: 
"Estoy enfermo, Padre querido: 
Yo de tu ejercito soy un herido. 
Por Ti la sangre del alma he dado ; 
Mi pobre ingenio yace agostado, 
Humos de invalido mis ansias son. 
Mas si mi numen cayo postrado 
Aun tiene lagrimas mi corazon. ..." 
.' ' Ann guardo, j oh Padre ! para el combate, 
Si Dios lo quiere, lanza y broquel, 
Y si mi frente la muerte abate, 
Mi ultimo aliento sera por El. ' ' 

44 Ibid.) num. 179, p. 416: "Villoslada fue poeta, y poeta fecundisimo, 
y poeta verdaderamentc inspirado. ' ' 

45 Ibid., pp. 417-18: Letter of Villoslada to his friend Jose Gil, 1837. 



FR AN CISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 15 

Among other poems may be mentioned one written when 

fifteen years of age, in commemoration of the basilica compost e- 

lana, beginning: 

; Salve, gigante tumulo, que escondes 
entre las nubes plumbeas la frente, 
bajo tu inmensa mole reverente 
yace de Espafia el inmortal Patron! 

When nineteen years of age he wrote silva to the Philhar- 
monic Society. 46 . His Egloga, Felicio y Anfisio written in the 
midst of the civil war, depicts the calmness and beauty of peace : 

Cuando acallan las aves su armonia, 

y despliegan los cefiros sus alas, 

y en brazos de la noche muere el dia. 47 

His elegy upon the death of his friend Espronceda closes with 

the following lines : 

i Que basta un genio a engrandecer a un siglo, 
Cual basta un sol a iluminar a un mundo ! 

To Calderon, recalling the mournful tones of a Nunez de 

Arce, he exclaims: 

jAlzate de la tumba 
Y el gran misterio dime 
De tu ingenio sublime, 
Genio de Calderon! 

I La veis? . . . Callad, mortales, 
La sombra rasgo el velo, 
Su diestra indica el cielo 
Su izquierda el corazon! 

The interest of this earlier poetic work is undoubtedly in- 
creased by Villoslada's power of surmounting environmental 
limitations. The expansive element which creates was not denied 
him; a singularly rich imagination was his source of power. 
Discerning and hailing ideal standards he resolutely gave poetic 
expression to gigantic thoughts, thoughts which we would hardly 
expect a youth to dress "out of any old wardrobe of the past." 



46 Ibid., num. 179, p. 417: ". . . cuando solo tenia diez j nueve afios 
eantaba en tan melirluos versos a la Sociedad filarmonica en una impecable 
silva. ' ' 

47 ma. 



16 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

A very small portion of his work is available, but the little that 
can be examined at this writing bears evidence of a deeply reli- 
gious nature and an instinctive aversion to war. There are many 
compositions among his published papers which clearly demon- 
strate from the point of view of literary criticism, the poetic in- 
stinct dominant in his youth. 48 Villoslada's training had been 
such as to produce impressions which are indelible, and which 
revive with double force when occasion demands. There is a little 
poem written in July, 1842, which breathes the depth of affection 
felt by our author for the Eucharist, betraying an indubitable 
trace of the mysticism of a San Juan de la Cruz. 49 It may be 
considered as inspired by or at least in harmony with the agencies 
influencing his early years. Its title Despues de la comunion 
sympathetically embodies his own feelings: 

jBendito Dios del Cielo, 
que mi alma escogiste por morada! 
jlnefable consuelo 
del alma enajenada, 
que en tus brazos se duerme regalada! 

Dentro de mi no cabe 
el gozo en que rebosan mis entrafias; 
en balsamo suave 
y alegrias extrafias, 
■j en olas de tu gloria el alma bafias. 

jOh!, cual me saboreo 
con tan dulce man jar. ^Yhe de perderte, 
dulcisimo Tesoro, 
despues de poseerte? 
jAy, antes de pecar, venga la muerte! 

jOh, buen Jesus,, el mundo 
desde tus alas visto al blando abrigo 
inspira horror profundo. 
Ahora que estas conmigo, 
sube al cielo, mi Dios, que yo te sigo ! 50 

No attempt is made at this time to define the influence of 
particular writers upon Villoslada. It is most probable that he 



48 Ibid., cited in footnote 3. 

49 Ibid., num. 180, p. 471. 
so Ibid., pp. 471-72. 



FEANCISCO NAVAEEO VILLOSLADA 17 

was acquainted with the mystics, and some of the passages in 
his religious poems are so congenial to the nature and feelings 
of that group of writers, that Villoslada may at least be con- 
ventionally criticized as reflecting the mystical element. What- 
ever qualities these poems exhibit are interesting, demonstrating 
the reaction of an unusually sensitive mind upon early im- 
pressions. It is disappointing that no comment from Villoslada 
upon his early taste has come to our notice beyond one reference 
which acquaints us with some of the invaluable friends he had 
already made. In one of his letters he mentions that he brought 
with him from Santiago to Viana the following books : " . . . . de 
los libros de Teologia el Berti y Charmes; de literatura extran- 
jera, el Telemaco; de la castellana, la coleccion de poesias por 
Quintana, un tomo de la Poetica de Blair, el compendio de Geo- 
grafia de Losada, una gramatica francesa y un buen diccionario 
de esta misma lengua y otro latino." Later we learn that he 
mastered French and Italian which made it possible for him to 
delve deeply in the classics of these nations and that his in- 
separable companion was don Quijote which always lay on his 
desk 51 

Villoslada should not be reprehended because there appears 
at this early stage a limitation of poetical taste to subjects which 
seem suited to the expression of his environment. He was inter- 
ested primarily in situations and incidents which bore a definite 
relation to his past training, and only secondarily, it would ap- 
pear, in the purely technical aspect of the work. Reading his 
poems we could guess that he would care more to portray his sen- 
timents than the stages of purely formal constructive effort. The 
optica mordant e of his old master don Pedro Losada was often 
flung away. A Saint Teresa might well have exclaimed to a 
crucified Christ : 

^Estas desamparado, Jesus mioi 
fcElevas jay! los muribundos ojos? . . . 
fcQue pides al Senor en tus enojos? . . . 
" jPerdon para los miseros, perdon! " 



si Ibid., num. 179, p. 416; num. 181, p. 514. 



18 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Insano pueblo, de tu Dios verdugo, 
po pisaste del mar las hondas grutas, 
al raudo soplo del Senor enjutas, 
palpitando de miedo el corazon? 
&Y las domadas olas no bramaban 
en montes dividiendose de espuma? 
gQuien las eontuvo, di, cual leve pluma, 
y encima las solto de Paraon? 

jj,Quien te puso, Jesus mio, 
esa corona de abrojos, 
sin que tus augustos ojos 
helaran su brazo impio? 

dQuien te robo la color 
de las rosadas mejillas? 
j,Quien tus sagradas rodillas 
descarno con tal horror? 

&Fue el pueblo que regalabas 
con blanda mano amoroso, 
y, cual padre carinoso, 
por su bien te desvelabas? 



The emotional appeal of a poem like this prevents one from 
taking any pleasure in the devious processes by which the cold 
intellect sometimes attempts to give fresh interest to familiar 
words or ideas. Villoslada felt, if he did not philosophize or 
reason in his poetic work, and the expression of this tenderness 
of passion is nowhere else in this poem more beautifully ex- 
pressed than in the closing lines : 

jQue desborde tu justa venganza, 

cual torrente de lava inflamado; 

y derribe, y devore al malvado, 

que su f rente elevo contra ti! 

jViva el justo no mas en la tierra! 

Pero, no! . . . no, mi Dios jTen clemencia! 

Todo el orbe firmo tu sentencia. . . . 

jay! que fuera del mundo y de mi! 52 



52 See A Jesus crucificado, in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol (2), III 
(1841), 111-12. 



FRANCISCO NAVAREO VILLOSLADA 19 

His best known poem is Luchana, based on the Siege of Bil- 
bao. During the year 1837 the Carlists besieged the city of 
Bilbao and Espartero, the hero of Luchana, saved the city a 
second time. Bilbao was the center about which revolved the 
revolution in the Basque provinces. In fact, it was the prin- 
cipal focus of the civil war, particularly at this time, when Don 
Carlos had decided upon its capture to please the powers and 
obtain their support. Three times was this stronghold besieged 
by the Carlists. The first siege was raised in July, 1835, by 
Espartero and was the first great blow to the Carlist cause. 
Another attempt of the Carlists was made in October of 1835, 
but was frustrated when within an ace of success by Lord John 
Hay. Early in 1837 the third siege was raised by Espartero, 
but only after heroic and superhuman efforts. Espartero 's ap- 
proach to the besieged city was hindered at every turn and it 
was upon reaching the bridge at Luchana that the desperate 
fighting took place which thrilled the nation. Espartero 's men 
forged across the stream and stormed the mountain position of 
the Carlists with fixed bayonets. The mortality on both sides 
was appalling and the suffering intensified by the fury of a 
tempest and a heavy snowfall. Bilbao was saved and the cause 
of the Pretender lost. It marked the turning point of the war — 
it started Carlism on the downward path which led to the Treaty 
of Vergara in 1839. 53 

This was the heroic background which Villoslada used for 
his epic Luchana. Expressing indignation he hurls violent re- 
bukes at the Carlist leaders Eguia and Villarreal, as also at Don 
Carlos. It is interesting to note the dedication to his mother 
of this poem, directed against those to Avhom in later life he lent 
his most active support : ' ' Este es el poema que a principios del 
ano 37 se complacia usted en escuchar de los labios de su hijo, 
conforme de su rudo ingenio iba brotando. Mi corazon entonces 
hervia de entusiasmo, porque yo tambien, como los heroes de mi 
canto, combatia en Navarra por la libertad." Thus Villoslada 
wrote on the tenth of November, 1840, when the first three cantos 



53 Hume, Modern Spain, pp. 336-38. 



20 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

of his epic were published in Madrid. This dedication to his 
mother would seem to indicate that there was no lack of confi- 
dence in the young man. There is a certain very pleasant tone 
of self assurance which appears neither extreme nor exaggerated 
when we consider the person whom he thus honored. The poem 
is not available to the writer, but the beginning is as follows : 

Canto el asedio de Bilbao, y canto 
Del Salvador ejercito la hazaiia 

Y el magnifico triunfo de Espartero. 54 

From Viana, Villoslada went to Logrono on the fifth of 
August, 1839, entering an office of telegraphy there as a stu- 
dent, and made such progress that by the thirty-first of 
October he was in charge of the Viana office. 55 An article, 
Telegrafos espafioles, descriptive of systems of telegraphy, or 
more properly speaking, signal systems adopted by Spain for 
night and day use, appeared in 1841. 56 This contribution re- 
flects mental acuteness and an effective power of reasoning. 
This article gave rise to such extended discussion that Villoslada 
desired that it be transferred to the columns of el Corresponsal, 
a periodical of greater scope and adaptibility to this sort of de- 
bate. 57 It was Briffault's article published in el Tiempo with 



54 See La Ilus. Esp. y Amer., XXXIX (1895), num. 33, p. 130. 

55 Goy, Ibid., num. 179, p. 418: "De simple miliciano en Viana, paso 
a Logrono, a 5 de Agosto. ingresando como alumno de Telegrafos en las 
oficinas de esta ciudad. Los alumnos, como tales, ninguna gratificacion 
tenian; pero a Villoslada cupole la suerte de caer en gracia al Director del 
ramo, mereciendole a los dos dias la nota de sobresaliente, y con ella aloja- 
miento y dos raciones diarias. Luego, en pasando unos dias, para que no 
llamara demasiado la atencion, propusole por aspirante, en el cual grado, 
ademas de las dos raciones, percibia cuatro reales diarios, con fundadas 
esperanzas de salir luego oficial con 6.000 reales anuales. 

"Con este nuevo cargo confiaronle comisiones varias, ora a Lerin cerca 
del magister equitum del bando liberal, el terrible Diego de Leon, ora a 
Viana, en 15 de Octubre de este ano de 39, encargandosele por fin del tele- 
grafo en esta ciudad, a 31 de este mismo mes. Poco tiempo despues fue 
propuesto para segundo oficial contra el Eeglamento, pues saltaba para ello 
por dos grados. Por encargo del Director del ramo, concluyo una Memoria 
para presentarla al Gobierno, haciendo ver la necesidad de un nuevo Eegla- 
mento, y entonces esperaba ser nombrado Secretario general, poniendose en 
breve tiempo en el tramo inmediato al Director." 

ss See Semanario Pintoresco Espanol (2), III (1841), 155-77, 168. 

57 ma., p. 176. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 21 

which Villoslada disagreed, and which brought hirn to the de- 
fense of Spain. He failed to see the superiority of French sys- 
tems, and Villoslada takes up his argumentation with the view 
of disproving Briffault's inferences. An excerpt from his reply 
is quoted : 

Dicho articulo nos confirma en la idea que teniamos formada de la 
superioridad del telegrafo espanol, e interesados en el honor de nuestra 
patria, no queremos renunciar a la satisfaction de publicar sus glorias, 
demostrando las ventajas que en este ramo podemos llevar a nuestros 
vecinos: ventajas tanto mas apreciables, cuanto si las artes florecen en 
Espana todo se lo deben a si mismas, y nada de ordinario a las leyes, que 
proteger debieran su cultivo. 

We conclude from the perusal of this article, which scien- 
tificially speaking may not be of great importance, that Villos- 
lada even though his interests lay in other directions, seems even 
as a young man to have had powers of discrimination and investi- 
gation which ought not to be underestimated. His diversity of 
interests is herein represented with some degree of completeness 
when with his usual desire for illustration, he presses into service 
Gongora's romance to substantiate scientific statements: 

Que los rayos de la luna 
Descubrieron las adargas. 
Las adargas avisaron 
A las mudas atalayas; 
Las atalayas los fuegos, 
Los fuegos a las eampanas: 
Y ellas al enamorado. . . , 58 

With the Treaty of Vergara, August 31, 1839, peace, so 
heartily desired by our author, was reestablished in Navarre, and 
on the second of September, inspired by the occasion, Villoslada 
wrote a poem at Logrono, which attracted the attention of the 
Duchess of Victoria. Espartero was near Estella at that time, 
and had promised to return triumphantly to Logrono on the 
twenty-fourth. For this occasion, the duchess desired that a 



58 Ibid., p. 155: "Llenas estan nuestras costas del mediterraneo de 
estas atalayas que tantas veces alarmaron a los asnstados pueblos del medio- 
dia, cuando tan atrevidos y erueles andaban los piratas africanos. He aqui 
como pinta Gongora en un bellisimo romance, el movimiento de estas sefiales 
que precedieron a una alarma, en las cercanias de Oran. " 



22 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

poem singing the praises of the duke be written, and this task 
she entrusted to Villoslada. 59 

His dramatic talent also had manifested itself in his youth. 
Here again the writer is unable to make any deductions because 
of the paucity of material. There are various dramas written 
about this time, some tragic as el Medio entre dos extremos o Ser 
esposa y madre fiel; others like Enamorar con peluca, an amus- 
ing comedy. 60 Another drama el Mariscal received the praise 
of Gil y Zarate and Ventura de la Vega. 61 A comedy entitled 
la Prensa Wore: Comedia original en tres actos y en verso, was 
published at Madrid by Eepulles in 1844 as one of the series of 
Galeria dramatical 2 La Dama del rey, zarzuela in one act and 
in verse was published at Madrid by Jose Rodriguez in 1885, 
in volume 7 of el Teatro; music by D. Emilio Arrieta. 63 Villo- 
slada continued to write dramas 64 but it is sufficiently apparent, 
even with the limited information at hand, that he could find 
no incentive in the theatrical conditions of the time. 65 

On the twenty-fourth of February, 1840, Villoslada, not yet 
twenty-two years of age, went to Madrid 66 to study law at the 
university. 67 He spent three years in legal studies, and his 



59 Goy, ibid., num. 179, p. 419. 

™Ibid: "El tipo de aquel viejo fatuo, D. Bias, que creyendo hablar 
con su Eosita, es burlado por Pepa, la criada, 6 por el chusco de D. Joaquin, 
es de lo mas f estivo y regocijado que ha llegado a nuestras manos. ' ' 

si Ibid: Ossorio y Bernard, Ensayo de un catdlogo de periodistas espa- 
noles del siglo XIX, p. 302 : " Su produccion dramatica y novelesca es digna 
de todo eneomio y respeto. ' ' 

62 In the New York Public Library. 

63 In the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. 

64 Goy, ibid., num. 179, p. 419 : * ' En epoca posterior, aim compuso 
Villoslada alguna que otra pieza dramatica, pero no tardo en abandonar 
por completo este genero de literatura, ..." 

65 Ibid: "No le gustaban los procedimientos que habia que seguir con 
las actrices entre bastidores para el buen exito de las obras. No se dice si 
otra de las causas fue el gusto de los espectadores. " For theatrical condi- 
tions in Spain during Villoslada 's most prolific dramatic period, see ' ' Critica 
literaria, Eevista Teatral, ' ' Semanario Pintoresco Espanol (2), III (1811), 
2-4. 

66 Letter of dona Petra Villoslada de Sendin : ' ' Terminada esta [the 
civil war] vino a estudiar la carrera de derecho a Madrid el ano 1810. ' ' 

67 Ibid : "... pero llevado de sus aficiones literarias que le atraian 
irresistiblemente, al mismo tiempo que curso tres -anos en la Universi- 
dad, ..." 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 23 

success in his work at the university is reflected in his personal 
correspondence at this period; his later development lending 
credit to the assertions therein that the final judgment of his 
teachers was distinctly favorable. 68 With his never loitering 
thought he found time to write historical dramas in verse, 
and at the same time to be redactor of la Gaceta, Correo National 
and el Regenerador. 69 Since the civil war had badly crippled the 
resources of the family in Viana, he deemed it his duty to earn 
his own livelihood, and turned to journalism, as offering the 
surest remuneration. He entered the field, a novice at the art, 
side by side with such men as Rios Rosas, 70 Tassara, 71 Pastor 
Diaz, 72 Sartorius 78 and Cardenas. 74 His first residence in Madrid 



68 Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 467 : " . . . estos tres anos consagrados a 
la jurisprudencia no debieron de ser desaprovechados nos lo prueban, a 
falta de mas directas noticias, las cartas de su correspondencia familiar de 
este tiempo, en que da cuenta a sus padres de las honrosas calificaciones 
obtenidas en sus examenes. ; ' 

69 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. 

70 Ossorio y Bernard, Ensayo de un catdlogo de periodistas espanoles 
del siglo XIX, p. 379: "Una de las figuras politicas de mayor relieve en 
nuestra historia moderna; ministro, embajador, presidente del Congreso, 
caballero del Toison de Oro, presidente del Ateneo de Madrid e individuo de 
numero de las Eeales Academias de la Lengua y de Ciencias Morales y 
Politicas ..." 

~i Ibid., p. 164: "Ilustre poeta. . . . Fue ministro de Espana en los 
Estados Unidos y desde el ano 1838 al 1850 fue redactor 6 director de los 
periodicos madrilenos El Correo National, El Heraldo, El Sol, El Faro, 
El Piloto, y El Conservador. En ellos demostro ser habil polemista de 
grandes ideas y levantado y castizo estilo. Eogerio Sanchez, Autores 
espanoles e hispano-americanos, pp. 382-87: "poeta espafiol de estro 
abundante y rotundo, que le vale, en opinion del maestro Valera, ser colo- 
cado al lado de los mas grandes poetas europeos del siglo XIX. Su her- 
mosisima oda A la traslacion del cadaver de Napoleon, le revela, a pesar 
de algun desalino, de vate herreriano, algun tantico retorico y amigo de la 
hiperbole, pero rico en noble inspiracion. La admiracion que tuvo por 
Quintana esta bien patente en su oda a este poeta, en la cual muestra su 
espiritu culto. Fue conocedor profundo de las literaturas clasicas y extran- 
jeras, dejando algunas valiosas traducciones, A Clio y A Postumo, tra- 
ducciones de Horacio ; la Vida del campo y la muerte de Priamo de Virgilio ; 
Monologo de Hamlet y la muerte del Bey Duncan, de Shakespeare, etc. 
Su gloria, algo amortiguada, debe al citado senor Valera, al gran Menendez y 
Pelayo y a casi todos los criticos paisanos suyos el ir siendo restaurada. . . . 
Canalejas, Discurso pronunciado en el Ateneo de 1876, "Del estado de la 
poesia lirica en Espana," gives an interesting estimate of Tassara consid- 
ered as one of the lyrical poets of the nineteenth century; Fitzmaurice- 
Kelly, Historia de la literatura espanola, p. 409. 

72 Ossorio y Bernard, op. tit., p. 333: "Politico y literato. ... La Eeal 
Academia Espanola de la Lengua le abrio sus puertas, y lo mismo hizo la 



24 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

was in the calle de Majaderitos, made famous by Breton de los 
Herreros in his comedies. Villoslada's first greeting to Madrid 
is contained in his novel, Historia de muchos Pepes, which was 
left unpublished, and after his death was printed by his daughter, 
dona Petra: 75 

jSalud, insigne villa, que desde este dia vas a servirme de patria; 
pueblo hospitalario que solo te compones de forasteros! jSalud, Madrid, 
donde todo abunda menos los madrilenos! Ciudad envidiada de las demas 
ciudades de Espaha, que te nutres y engordas con todas ellas y recoges, 
bueno y malo, lo que pierden 6 desechan. Matrona insigne de hijos 
adoptivos, receptaculo inmenso de los mayores vicios y virtudes, lago en 
perpetua fermentacion que lanzas a menudo las heces a lo mas alto. Yo 
te saludo, madre carinosa, que mimas a los hijos que mas te maltratan y 
atormentan. Abreme los brazos, que no vengo a tu seno para adormecerme; 
y si por ventura hay agua en tu famoso rio, en ella mojare mi rostro para 
acercarme a, ti con la cara lavada. No traigo yo caudal, que no merecen 
este nombre unas cuantas pesetejas, que de buena gana arrojaria desdeno- 
samente si supiera que habian de germinar y producir sendos pesos 
duros . . .! Acogeme benigna y generosa, futura patria mia, que Uevo 
intenciones de esquilmarte sin entranas. 76 



de Ciencias Morales y Politicas. Desempeno elevadas funciones, entre otras, 
las de rector eu la Universidad de Madrid y ministro de Estado, que no 
llego a desempenar por haber fallecido en 22 de Marzo de 1863. La Aca- 
demia Espanola publico una edicion de las obras completas de Pastor Diaz. ' ' 
See also Fitzmaurice-Kelly, p. 407; Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 130, 181, 376, 
422; Eogerio-Sanchez, op. cit., p. 904. See Obras de Pastor Diaz; prologo 
de Hartzenbusch ; Gonzalez-Bianco, Historia de la novela en Espana, pp. 
106-07, 121, ,158-59. 

73 Ossorio y Bernard, op. cit., p. 424 : ' ' Conde de San Luis y vizconde de 
Priego ; politico de arraigadas creencias, ministro que fue de la Gobernacion 
y presidente del Consejo de Ministros, caido del poder por la revolucion de 
1854. Fue gran protector de escritores y artistas y fundo el Teatro 
Espafiol. Fue redactor de El Espanol, El Correo Nacional (1838-42), y 
fundador y director de El Heraldo (1842-1854) ..." 

7 4 Ibid., p. 71: "Politico, presidente que fue del Congreso y ministro de 
la Corona, academico de la Historia y de Ciencias Morales y Politicas, em- 
bajador, etc. . . . Eedacto en Madrid el Espanol, que cambio este titulo 
por el de el Conservador (1841) y dirigio el Globo (1844) y el Derecho 
Moderno (1847 a 57)." 

75 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "Hay otra 
novelita de costumbres que mi Padre no se cuido de publicar, que se titula 
Historia de muchos Pepes. Empezo con un gran plan, pero hubo de sus- 
penderla por no se que motives, . . . porque no se perdiese ese trabajo lo 
publique yo despues de su muerte, pues da idea exacta de la epoca del 40 
al 50 y esta escrita con gran soltura y gallardia. ' ' 

7 6 Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 466-67 : Mesonero Eomanos, in his Escenas 
matritenses, says of Madrid, about this time: "A excepcion de S. M. la 
Eeina, apenas hay en el Alcazar Seal ningun hi jo de Madrid. En Congreso 
y Senado siempre estan, con muy ligera excepcion, representados los madri- 



FBAXCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 25 

This same month he sought and. obtained an appointment as 
editor on the la Gaceta," the government organ, but this position 
he only held until the first of September, memorable date, 
which marked the beginning of a series of insurrections tak- 
ing place throughout the kingdom, the first of these occurring 
in Madrid. Vilioslada had received his position on la Gaceta 
at the hands of the moderate party, and the transference of 
power to the hands of the progressives brought about his dis- 
missal. This naturally caused him anger, and the following 
excerpt taken from an article written at the time, ''La ambicion 
y las crisis de gobiernos son las unicas enfermedades cronicas 
de este siglo en Espana," reflects his views. It is Gov's opinion 
that he had ample reason for this, for from 18-10 to 1843 the 
instability of parties, and the consequent intranquillity of the 
populace was such that a ministro said during the proceedings of 
el congreso: "Cada dia que pasa sin un motin es mi triunfo para 
el Gobierno." 7S 

Vilioslada 's activities in the journalistic field had brought him 
into close contact with the trend of events. The history of 
Spain is, therefore, of particular interest. After the Treaty of 
Vergara, to which reference has been made, much uncertainty 
existed. The country was showing marked progressive ten- 
dencies, but Christina, still under the influence of the moderates, 
endeavored to suppress these tendencies, first by dissolving the 
newly elected parliament, and later by attempting to pass a bill 
taking away from the municipalities most of the independence 
and popular character conferred upon them by the Constitution 



lenos por naturales de otras provincias. Abogados gallegos, estremenos y 
montarieses ; medicos catalanes; coniereiantes idem; oradores andaluces : 
poetas de todas partes; artistas meridionales y levantinos; aguadores 
asturianos; sastres peluqueros, modistas, guanteros y talioneros franceses; 
nmsicos y danzantes italianos; taberneros manchegos; tenderos eastellanos; 
criadas y libreros alcarrenos ; mercaderes ambulantes Talencianos y ara- 
goneses, y pretendientes de todas las ciudades, villas, lugares y caserios del 
reino. Tales son los elementos de que se compone la poblaeion de Madrid. ' ' 

" 7 Letter of dona Petra Xavarro Vilioslada de Sendin: "En 1840 
ingreso en la Kedaccion de la Gaceta, quedando cesante en Septiembre del 
mismo ano; Garcia, op. cit., II, 272; Gov, op. cit., num. 180, p. 469; Ossorio 
y Bernard, op. cit., p. 302. 

78 Gov, op. cit., num. 180, p. 469. 



23 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

of 1812. It became evident to the liberals that the moderates 
did not intend to act constitutionally. The proposed ley de ayun- 
tamiento met with opposition from all quarters, and finally re- 
sulted in revolution when signed by the regent in her determin- 
ation to thwart the liberal cause. As already stated, on the first 
of September, 1840, uprisings occurred in Madrid, rapidly 
spreading through Spain and culminating in the abdication of 
the Queen Regent and her departure for France on the eigh- 
teenth of October. Espartero, the hero of Spain, who had been 
supporting the progressives, succeeded to the regency. 79 

Villoslada 's parents were Isabelinos and he was originally a 
strong supporter of the young queen. Later he became a leader 
of the Carlist cause and the most faithful adviser of the Pre- 
tender, Charles VII. His participation in the active political 
affairs of the nation is aptly described as follows : 

Villoslada como otros politicos de su tiempo que figuran luego en el 
opuesto campo,, empezo su carrera con un acto de adhesion al general 
Espartero, pocos dias despues de la abdicacion de Da. Maria Cristina. Es 
hoy curioso que el futuro redactor de el Padre Cobos, que habia de poner 
en solfa al ilustre General catorce ahos adelante, empezase su carrera con 
un poema en su alabanza, y que el futuro Ministro de Carlos VII hubiera 
escrito estos versos a su abuelo Carlos V: 

. . . |Yun hombre goza [Don Carlos, nota del poema] 

Cual verdugo feroz en el suplicio, 

Y tanta sangre con serenos ojos 

Mira, y tantos despojos 

De su loca ambicion en sacrificio. 80 

It is not the purpose of this preliminary study to trace the 
influences which brought about this change. There were no 
doubt many, in this disturbed period of Spanish history so filled 
with intrigue and revolt, resulting in the shifting of political 
parties from one leader to another each in the hope of attaining 
his ends. Their purposes, too, were more commonly selfish than 
in the interests of the nation. We must also recall the strong 
religious convictions of Villoslada and that the Catholic Church 
was an ardent supporter of the legitimist cause. Politically, 



79 Hume, Modern Spain, pp. 355-65. 

so La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, XXXIX "(1895), num. p. 130. 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 27 

Villoslada was never a liberal and yet at times we find this party 
enthusiastically supporting the queen. Likewise, the first civil 
war was primarily a dynastic war, secondarily one of principles, 
directly the reverse of the third, wherein principles were fought 
for by the Carlist party. 81 

About January, 1841, he joined the editorial staff of the 
Semanario Pintoresco Espanol 82 a review of an exclusively artis- 
tic character. To it we are indebted for preserving the first in- 
spirations of Zorrilla, Larraiiaga, Bermudez de Castro and En- 
rique Gil. In it Mesonero Romanos, "el Curioso Parlante" con- 
tinued his cuadros de costumbres. He was the founder of the 
Semanario and the director fromf April 13, 1836 to 1842. S3 We 
find in this year of 1841 Hartzenbusch analyzing with his usual 
happy intuitive powers the theater of Ramon de la Cruz, 84 Meso- 
nero Romanos publishing his Recuerdos de viaje, 85 and Jose Joa- 
quin de Mora 86 and J. M. de Andueza 87 writing poetry. The 
contributions of Villoslada were many. 88 We have of his signed 
contributions during this year the following: el Remedio 
del amor, S9 el Castillo de Marcilla? Al Otoiio del 33, 91 la Muerte 
de Cesar Borja, 92 A Jesus cruciftcado, 93 and Telegrafos espanoles. 

From 1842 to 1845, while under the directorship of Gervasio 
Geronella, the review lost much of its prestige, until it passed 



81 Goy, op. cit., num. 179, p. 415. 

82 See Introduction to volume for 1853 of the Semanario Pintoresco Es- 
panol; Memorias de Mesonero Bomanos : Trabajos no CoJeccionados, II 
(1905); los Periodicos ilustrados de Madrid, in la Ilus. Esp. y. Amer., 1882, 
num. 1; Letter of Mariano Eoca de Tagores, dated Paris, February 20, 
1880, ibid., 1880, num. 9, p. 147. 

83 Garcia, op. cit., I, 97. 

84 See Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, (2), III (1841), 61-64, 71-72; 
Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 469. 

85 See Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, op. cit., published weekly from 
April 25 to August 22, 1841, pp. 134-270. 

se Fitzmaurice-Kelly, op. cit., pp. 399, 412 ; Garcia, op. cit., I, 399 ; II, 
141, 575. 

87 Ossorio y Bernard, op. cit., p. 17; Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 469. 
ss Ibid., num. 180, p. 470. 

89 Semanario Pintoresco Espanol (2), III (1841), 9-15, 29-31. 
so Ibid., pp. 125-26. 

91 See pp. 12-13, this paper. 

92 Semanario Pintoresco Espailol (2), III (1841), 210-12. 

93 See pp. 17-18 and p. 18, note 52. 



28 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

into the hands of Villoslada in 1845, and thence into the hands 
of Angel Fernandez de los Bios in 1846, 94 when it again seems 
to have lost much of its distinctive character. Villoslada earn- 
estly sought to make the Semanario a factor in the literary and 
artistic life of Spain, endeavoring as far as lay in his power dur- 
ing his directorship to follow in the footsteps of Mesonero 
Komanos, its founder. He says: "En esta segunda epoca de 
la vida de este periodico nos hemos propuesto seguir enteramente 
sus huellas, aspirando al honor de que los ultimos tiempos del 
Semanario Pintoresco sean considerados como una laguna en su 
historia, como un eclipse pasagero despues del cual vuelve a 
brillar el astro refulgente con su esplendor antiguo." 95 The 
catalogue of Villoslada 's collaborators is full of important names ; 
his faculty of gathering around him men of genius, his genius for 
appreciating and enjoying other men's Avork, convince one of his 
good taste, and pretty fairly characterize the man. 

Villoslada was an insatiable worker, and in addition to the 
articles mentioned, he contributed to la Revista de GaUtia, 
el Boletin del Instituto Espaiiol and el Gabinete de Lectura. In 
his autobiographical notes we find that on the sixth of October, 
1842, the first number of el Arpa del creyente appeared. 96 This 
was a weekly literary and religious review, the first review di- 
rected by Villoslada, but for reasons unknown it ceased publica- 
tion on December twenty-fifth of the same year. Such writers 
as Hartzenbusch, Garcia Gutierrez, Valera, Komea, Campoamor 
and Principe were contributors. Navarro Villoslada wrote some 
articles on the Influencia del cristianismo en la civilization. ° 7 
These activities in the field of journalism were coincident with 



94 Garcia, op. cit., II, 14 : " . . . acreditan [referring to the later vol- 
umes of the Semanario Pintoresco Espaiiol] la laborosidad puramente 
mecanica de Fernandez de los Rios, pero la parte material de estos es una 
verdadera lastima, una serie de caricaturas con andrajos. " 

95 See Introduction, Semanario Pintoresco Espaiiol, I (1846), 1. 

96 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada Sendin: "Fundo tambien 
una revista, El Arpa del Creyente, j gustaban tanto sus escritos que a los 
pocos aiios le nombraron director de uno de los diarios mas importantes de 
Madrid, El Espaiiol, de D. Andres Borrego, gran politico de aquellos tiempos 
y embajador en Londres, 1846-47." 

97 Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 470. 



FRANCISCO NAVAEEO VILLOSLADA 29 

his continued study of law, and served as a worthy beginning to 
later and more brilliant endeavor. 

The successful results of the efforts of this youth along these 
lines were appreciated by his parents, but they feared that con- 
tact with the larger sphere of activity might contaminate the boy. 
This is inferred from the letter of his mother : " Se buen cristiano 
para que las oraciones de tu madre tengan algun fruto, y si asi 
lo haces, espera en Dios, que te mirara y no te ha de f altar." 98 
The home influences and religious training of Yilloslacla are 
plainly indicated in. the tenor of his life. Doiia Pilar was largely 
endowed with the noblest and most lovable qualities of humanity. 
A substantial share of their worldly goods was devoted to solacing 
the unfortunate." Without pretending to judge in a matter of 
such delicacy, it may at least be allowed that our author was 
indebted to his parents for that depth of religious feeling which 
is so thoroughly manifest in much of his work. It is unquestion- 
able that this deeply religious environment in his early years 
had its effect in later life upon Villoslada, and the training of 
his mind and heart due to his parents' solicitude had much 
to do with his later activities as counsellor to Don Carlos and 
the Carlist cause. 

Before following Yilloslada in his varied career, a hasty sur- 
vey of the political condition of Spain, which materially influ- 
enced literary activities, might well be introduced. Since the 
death of Ferdinand VII, we find in Spain an unbroken period of 
civil war and semi-anarchy. Violent changes of government, mili- 
tary mutinies, public disturbance, and general distrust had done 
their worst to ruin the country, already exhausted by the blight- 
ing effect of Ferdinand 's cast-iron despotism. Hume says : 

The net result was politically disappointing, but, at all events, it was 
a mark of progress that rigid absolutism had been vanquished with the 
disappearance of Don Carlos from the scene, and that, even in the era of 
military reaction under Narvaez, neither he nor any other responsible 
man dared to revert to the older ideas by abolishing the Constitution 
altogether, however much they might seek to weaken it in an anti- 
democratic direction. 



93 Ibid., p. 471. 

99 Ibid., num. 174, 208ff; num. 177, 322ff. 



30 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

The political and intellectual awakening that was taking place 
throughout Europe extended to Spain. Hume continues : 

The irresistible reform movement in England and the overthrow of 
absolutism in France (July, 1830) coincided in point of time with the 
formation of new ideals in literature, science, and art. Breaking with 
classic models, the intellect of both countries gave to its creations a free- 
dom and picturesqueness, a wider scope and a warmer imagination than 
had animated art for a century before. The death of Fernando and the 
events that followed it brought back to Spain the bright spirits which 
despotism had scattered into exile, modified somewhat by the influence 
of the particular countries in which they had passed their banishment, 
but always vivid, luxuriant, and fertile. Those who had lived in England, 
such as Saavedra, Trueba, Jose Joaquin Mora, Galiano, Espronceda, and a 
host of others, came home filled with Walter Scott and Byron; others who 
had wandered and waited in France transplanted to the congenial soil 
of Spain the brilliant romantic impressionism of Victor Hugo and Dumas, 
the result being that the ten years now under review, 1834 to 1844, not- 
withstanding the deplorable condition of the country, were marked by an 
abundance and excellence of intellectual production such as had rarely 
been equalled by a like period before, and never since. 

Pineyro refers to it as " . . . el periodo triunf ante del roman- 
ticismo espanol." As usual in Spain, the most characteristic 
works took the dramatic form. At this time Duque de Bivas 

. . . rose to sublimity on the stage in his splendid Don Alvaro, 6 La fuerza 
del sino (1836), and in his historical romances and lyric poetry. To this 
same period belongs the drama El Trovador by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez, 
Larra's Macias and Espronceda 's Byronic poems, El Diablo Mundo and El 
Estudiante de Salamanca. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch in his Los Amantes 
de Teruel (1837) firmly established his fame. Jose Zorrilla received his 
inspiration from similar sources, and at the same time, though his finest 
work was done somewhat later. 100 

At this time Villoslada was on intimate terms with Espron- 
ceda, Rivas and Zorrilla. 101 The literary activity spread from 
Madrid and Barcelona to the most remote provinces. Every- 
where athenaeums and lyceums sprang up for the promotion 
of literature, and we find the homes of political and literary 
men made centers of literarv culture. Blanco Garcia says: 102 



ipo Hume, Modern Spain, p. 381ff. 
ioi Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 470. 
102 Op. cit., II, 10-11. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 31 

La mas antigua de tales reuniones 10 ^ era la que semanalmente se con- 
stituia en la casa de D. Patricio de la Escosura, calle del Amor de Dios. 
Alii conferenciaban con D. Juan Nicasio Gallego, el mayor en edad 
respetado de todos los asistentes, los oradores, periodistas y poetas del 
partido moderado, tales como Pacheco, Nocedal, Donoso Cortes, Pastor 
Diaz, Breton de los Herreros, Ventura de la Vega y Eodriguez Eubi, sin 
contar con otros no tan conocidos a la sazon, entre ellos Gabino Tejado 
y Gonzalez Pedroso. 1( > 4 Casi todos los literatos que concluyo de citar, y 
muchos cuyas nrmas constan en el periodico El Belen y en el libro Las 
Cuatro Navidades (publicados los dos en 1857), y entre los que recordare 
a Amador de los Eios, D. Enrique Bamirez Saavedra, actual Duque de 
Bivas, D. Joaquin Jose Cervino, D. Aureliano Fernandez Guerra, D. 
Antonio Gil y Zarate, D. Juan E. Hartzenbusch, D. Modesto Lafuente, 
D. Francisco Navarro Villoslada y D. Eugenio de Ochoa, acudian a la 
tertulia del Marques de Molins en los miercoles de todas las semanas. En 
ella hicieron gala de ingeniosidad y travesura los graves y sesudos hom- 



103 Ibid. 

104 Goy, op. cit., num. 208, p. 67f£. The friendship existing between 
Villoslada and Pedroso in later life, together with their intimate correspond- 
ence, would form a most interesting chapter if all material were available. 
Here we but briefly touch its depth. There came a time in the life of the 
author of Autos sacramentales when, while in America leading a somewhat 
romantic existence, he seems to have wandered from the faith. It was 
Villoslada 's fervent letters which brought him back to the fold. 

On July 30, 1855, Villoslada, according to his diary, received a letter 
from Pedroso which brought the news of his conversion : ' ' Con que placer, 
con que conviceion y a boca llena digo hoy: jCreo! jCreo! jCreo en Dios, 
creo en Jesucristo creo en la Iglesia catolica y creo en todo lo que ella 
enseiia! Para mi es tan evidente como la luz del dia esta verdad: 'Por la 
boca de la Iglesia habla Dios. ' Soy feliz porque caigo de rodillas delante 
de la verdad cristiana. Hasta aqui fui un buen aficionado al cristianismo ; 
hoy soy un cristiano, aunque malo. " . . . "El mismo dia que recibi tu 
carta busque un ilustrado Sacerdote con quien desahogarme. Al dia 
siguiente recibi los Sacramentos. He aqui, amigo mio, la manera de creer; 
he aqui la manera de ser cristiano. " . . . " Sin creer del todo, fui a oir un 
sermon en que predicaban de la Virgen. En seguida se canto la Salve y 
llore. Como el nauf rago que se agarra a la ultima tabla, decia yo : j Dios 
mio, f omenta mis buenos sentimientos ! [Maria, esperanza mia, no me 
dejeis caer del punto en que ahora se encuentran mis deseos! " 

When Pepita, his beloved wife, died the convert showed admirable resig- 
nation and fortitude in his sorrow. He writes : ' ' Cuando pienso en la 
dicha de mi Pepita, no me atrevo a llamar desgracia su muerte. Puedo 
confesarte, queridisimo Francisco, que esta vez no he sentido dolor, a menos 
que me equivoque en la derinicion de este sentimiento interior. Temo decir 
una blasfemia; pero cuando busco una comparacion adecuada al estado que 
en mi ha producido la santa muerte de mi Pepita, te aseguro que se me 
viene involuntariamente a la idea lo que he sentido cuando he comulgado 
menos mal, un enternecimiento profundo, un claro conocimiento de mi in- 
dignidad y un principio de fuerza interior, que me hace creer posible a mi 
flaqueza soportar muchos dolores en obediencia a la voluntad de Dios y en 
descuento de los enormes pecados de mi vida pasada. " 

In one of his letters to Pedroso, Villoslada says: "Mariana, dia de San 
Vicente, comulgo con mi hija Blanca en el Oratorio de las Hermanas de la. 



32 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

bres de Estado, los humildes jornaleros de la prensa, los versificadores 
obscuros y premiosos y los poetas de alto vuelo. Las tres octavas reales 
en que Ventura de la Vega explica el modo de hacer las sopas de ajo, el 
soneto de Breton sobre igual asunto, y otros con pies forzados en que los 
dos insignes dramatieos y Hartzenbusch cantan las batallas de las Ter- 
mopilas y de Waterloo, y Los cabellos de Sanson, reclaman lugar de pre- 
ferencia entre los juguetes de nuestra antigua y moderna literatura, e 
indican ademas un estudio de la lengua y de los secretos ritmicos superior 
a todo encomio. No se olvide, finalmente, que La muerte de- Cesar fue 
leida y juzgada por primera vez en una de estas asambleas, en que hacia 
de anfitrion el Marques de Molins.ios 

The year 1845, 106 as noted, found Villoslada director o f the 
Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, with which review he had been 
connected since 1841. He likewise became director in 1845 of the 
illustrated monthly el Siglo Pintoresco, the first number of which 
appeared in April of this same year in Madrid. Its purposes as 
outlined in the first editorial by Villoslada, left little to be de- 
sired ; the articles were to be elevating in character, the doctrines 



Caridad. Alii, en compaiiia de mi hija y de estos angeles, rezare por Pepita, 
rezare por tus hijos, rezare por ti. Eduardo, somos hermanos en la desgracia, 
ayudemonos como tales a sobrellevarla, jno nos separemos jamas, y sobre 
todo que Dios no separe nuestras almas de las almas que en el camino del 
Cielo nos han precedido, como mas merecedoras de poseerle!" And again 
in the summer of 1855 Villoslada writes: "Falta de fe, y no pequena, 
seria, amigo del alma, el lamentar la muerte de un angel, que nos contempla 
inundado de f elicidad. j Oh quien tuviera su dicha ! j Quien pudiera morir 
como ella, sin haber cometido un solo pecado mortal, como estoy seguro de 
que ella no lo ha cometido. ! ; Eduardo! j Eduardo! Tienes hijos inocentes 
en el Cielo; tienes una mujer que es una santa y que esta en el Cielo; la 
mitad de ti mismo esta ya gozando de Dios. Dios te va abriendo un camino 
que no se por donde esta trazado, pero si que va a parar al Cielo. ' ' 

105 Canovas del Castillo, el Solitario y su tiempo, I. 304ff. : "En el 
entretanto, el Ateneo de Madrid, corporacion nacida en 1820, y cual otras 
tantas cosas muerta al rigor de la excesiva reaccion de 1823, se habia creado 
de nuevo, si no restaurado, en 1835, bajo los auspicios de la Sociedad Eco- 
nomics Matritense, y la sucesiva direccion de dos comisiones, de que forma- 
ron parte Alcala Galiano, Olozaga, el duque de Eivas, Mesonero Eomanos, 
Florez Calderon, El Marques de Someruelos, D. Eusebio Maria del Valle, 
don Juan Miguel de los Eios y algunas otras importantes personas de la 
epoca. Fue su primer presidente el duque de Eivas, y en sus listas figuraron 
en breve cuantos nombres ilustres contaba Madrid. See also el Ateneo de 
Madrid, por D. Eafael M. de Labra, quoted by Canovas del Castillo. 

106 Goy, op. cit., num. 181, p. 512; Ossorio y Bernard (op. cit., p. 302), 
places the directorship of the Semanario Pintoresco Espanol as 1846, and 
that of el Siglo Pintoresco as 1845; Garcia (op. cit., I, 97), places the date 
of the Semanario Pintoresco Espanol as 1845. Villoslada 's name appears 
first as director of el Semanario in the issues of January, 1846. which leads 
one to infer that although he may have been appointed its director in 1845 
he did not publicly take charge until the first of the following year. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 33 

expounded were to be healthful, the moral tone rigidly in con- 
sonance with the tendencies of the century. The scope of the 
review was to be comprehensive, embracing well balanced articles. 
The spirit of the review was to be Christian and eminently 
social. 107 

There is evidence in this editorial of Villoslada that the phil- 
osophy of history as time went on was being unfolded more and 
more to his discriminating intelligence. His "generalizing fac- 
ulty found congenial employment in later years in tracing out 
the relation of men to movements, of national impulses to world 
history. ' ' His love of historical illustration was paramount ; it 
was this sort of illustration which harmonized best with his 
critical principles. He felt that if he could bring definite facts 
to aid in elucidating, he was serving his purpose. Historical illus- 
tration and literary comment went hand in hand. He says : 

Los siglos anteriores estan personificados en una existencia gigantesca, 
que ya por la lumbre del genio, ya por el estruendo de sus armas vie- 
toriosas, ya por la estension de su inmenso poderio, ofusca, ensordece, 6 
confunde a las inteligencias inferiores, que notan desapercibidas a manera 
de pequenos esquifes entorno de un navio empavesado. Los genios otras 
veces se apifian a la sombra de un trono, dando grandeza y celebridad a 
la persona augusta que sentada en el les tiende su manto protector. Asi 
Leon X y Luis XIV han dado nombre a, su siglo. Ninguna de estas cele- 
bridades puede adquirirse al presente. El merito y el talento carecen de 
un foco que les alimente y vivifique: estan derramados sobre la faz de 
la tierra. Su patria es el mundo, y la publicidad el lazo que los une. Ni 



107 El Siglo Pintoresco, I, 2: "Y si este periodico se engalana profusa- 
mente par tener mayores atractivos, eon la riqueza y esplendor que prestan 
las bellas artes a las producciones de la prensa; si este periodico, hijo del 
noble afan de contribuir a la ilustracion espanola, no de un sordido interes., 
ni de una mezquina especulacion ; despues de haber observado la marcha que 
publicaciones del mismo genero siguen en Alemania, en Inglaterra y 
Francia; rival de ninguna, emula de todas; a la sombra de sus lujosos 
atavios y de su estraordinaria baratura, logra propagar y estender en todas 
las clases de la sociedad la aficion a los estudios solidos y lecturas amenas; 
si este periodico cuyas miras desinteresadas son tan solamente las de existir 
para ilustrar, no encierra en su seno el germen de una muerte irremediable y 
pronta: no es una de tantas publicaciones efimeras, que como la rosa de los 
verjeles, nacen y mueren con el dia; este periodico por humilde que sea, 
habra hecho un bien al pais. Y si este periodico, 6 mas bien, si este nuevo 
libro, que de libro tendra mas que de periodico, acierta a llenar sus paginas 
con articulos de elevadas tendencias, de sanas doctrinas y de rigida moral, 
en armonia con la moral, doctrinas y tendencias veradaderas del siglo, esta 
gota de agua, volviendo a, la primera comparacion, sera no tan solo pura, 
sino purificadora de las demas. " 



34 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

el mismo Napoleon ha podido cobijar al siglo presente bajo las alas del 
aguila imperial; porque si bien pudo esta encumbrarse sobre cien tronos, 
la revolucion se cernia mucha mas altanera, y el eco de sus rugidos 
ensordecia aun la voz de las piramides, y el trueno de los canones de 
Austerlitz. 

Besides his exposition of the philosophical nature of the re- 
view, he exhibits throughout in a pleasing form his veneration for 
social virtue and his desire to disseminate among the masses those 
ideals of the century with which he was in harmony : 

Marcar en un libro los sublimes arranques y gloriosas conquistas del 
pensamiento humano, consignando a la par los errores 6 estavios en que 
ineurre con sobrada frecuencia por esceso de lozania; fijar los grandes 
sucesos de la epoca, y hacer que el tiempo no pase tan velozmente, por 
decirlo asi, que no deje estampadas aqui sus huellas; y a la par que se 
presenta el cuadro de nuestros hechos, de nuestros descubrimientos y de 
nuestras costumbres, compararlo con los hechos, con los descubrimientos 
y costumbres de nuestros padres; tal es el objeto nlosofico de esta obra. 

Very practical motives inspired these editorials. Imbued with 

the characteristic religious attitude of our author, they are still 

devoid of fastidious sentiment and morality: 

He aqui, pues, como el dedo de la Providencia prescribe al siglo la 
marcha del cristianismo: y como la humanidad entera, cuyos triunfos son 
lentos, pero seguros, acabara por no tener mas que un altar para adorar a 
un mismo Dios. Sin embargo, nosotros hablaremos de religion como 
puede hablar un periodico ameno y esclusivamente literario; mas bien por 
los sentimientos, que por la controversial mas por el instituto de la belleza, 
que por la fuerza del raciocinio. Otras publicaciones cumpliran su misiou 
defendiendo el dogma; la nuestra tratara de llenar su deber buscando lo 
bello, lo dulce y civilizador de la moral cristiana; especie de perfume 
suave y deleitoso que exhalaran todas las paginas de esta obra. El espi- 
ritu del Siglo sera eminentemente social, ya que tan profundamente se 
remueven en nuestros dias estas ideas; como quiera que a nuestro modo 
de entender todas esas cuestiones de la organizacion del trabajo del 
pauperismo, de la reforma de la legislacion penal y del sistema carcelario, 
no son en el f ondo mas que la caridad cristiana aplicada a dif erentes clases 
y establecimientos de la sociedad civil. 

While expressing wholesomely vigorous opinion concerning 
these many practical questions, his editorials show the master 
hand of a man of letters whose desire to benefit the public gives 
to his style a remarkable directness and lucidity because of its 
very purity. 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 35 

Nuestro lenguaje, sin embargo, aun cuando ventilemos grandes y pro- 
fundas cuestiones, sera sencillo y acomodado a la inteligencia de todos los 
talentos medianamente cultivados. Mas podriamos de otro modo conseguir 
nuestro objeto de estender y popularizar la lectura de escritos serios y 
amenos, introduciendo este periodico en el seno de las familias, para 
fortifiearlas en sus creencias y disminuir sus ratos de ocio y de fastidio. 

Vicente Castello was the founder and publisher of el Siglo 
Pintoreseo and in charge of the artistic section; the literary sec- 
tion was in the hands of Villoslada and M. M. Bartolome. Villo- 
slada contributed a poem, la Profanation del templo to the first 
number; 108 an article el Fin del mundo, to the August number of 
1845, 109 and in the January and February numbers of 1846. a 
humorous sketch, el Arriero. 110 

In the October number of 1845 appeared the first installment 
of his historical novel la Princesa de Yiana. appearing in suc- 
cessive numbers until completed in May, 1846. X11 In his prologue 
to the second edition. Villoslada savs : 



los Ibid., p. 21: 

' ' g Por que gemidos del prof undo exhalas, 
triste Jerusalen? Por tus mejillas 
labrando surcos va perene llanto : 
desnuda de tu pompa y de tus galas, 
doblas sobre ceniza tus rodillas : 
los peregrinos que el suave encanto 
admiraron ayer de tu belleza, 
hoy con dolor y espanto 
vuelven. al ver tu rostro, la cabeza. 

Subito con semblante consternado 
los hijos del pecado 
se abaten contra el suelo, 
que a las huellas del angel se estremece; 
y Onias solo bendiciendo al cielo, 
con firme pie tranquilo permanece. 

'La vida debes hoy al sacerdote, ' 

al contrito Heliodoro el angel dice: 

'las gracias dale, y al Sen or bendice. 

De la celeste colera al azote 

sefialada tu frente, 

sirve a los lwmbres de terror y ejemplo, 

cuando tu Idbio Jos castigos cuente 

que Bios reserva al que prof aim el templo. 9 " 
109 ibid., pp. 113-15. 
no Tbid., II (1816), 18-21, 39-43. 

mlbid.. I (1845), 153-62, 211-19. 272-79; II (1846), 13-17, 43-47, 
58-65, 84-89, 105-12. 



33 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Con el titulo de la Princesa de Viana se publico en el Siglo Pintoresco, 
periodico mensual, y en el espacio de medio ano la presente Cronica. 
Instado por algunas personas que querian tenerla en un volumen, se decidio 
el autor a reimprimirla en El Espanol, con las correcciones de que tanto 
habia menester una obra escrita en parte simultaneamente con el primer 
tomo del Antecristo, y cuando el autor dirijia cuatro periodicos: El Espanol, 
La Revista Literaria, El Siglo Pintoresco y El Semanario Pintoresco Espanol. 

A las primeras pajinas conocio que tenia que correjir, no solo el estilo, 
sino el plan de la novela; y muy desde el principio introdujo en ella 
nuevos personajes, formo nuevos capitulos, desecho muchos de los antiguos, 
y sobre el mismo fondo historico de la obra, formo otra nueva, que es la 
que hoy presenta con el titulo de Dona Blanca de Navarra. 112 

In the third edition, 1847, we find the revised la Princesa de 
Viana with a supplement Quince dias de reinado, both published 
under the name of dona Blanca de Navarra. He says: 

No es mero capricho, ni ecsijencia de los Editores, ni mucho menos es 
una mira de especulacion el anadir una segunda parte a la novela que al 
parecer termina en los sucesos del castillo de Ortes. Dona Blanca de 
Navarra y Quince Dias de Reindo, son en verdad dos novelas distintas; 
pero entrambas se concibieron al mismo tiempo; y si el interes queda 
cuasi del todo satisfecho en la primera, el pensamiento moral no se 
desarrolla ni se completa hasta la segunda. 

Esta trabazon, la unica a mi modo de ver que puede ecsistir entre dos 
partes de una misma obra de imajinacion, me autoriza a publicar entram- 
bas bajo un titulo comun y en un solo volumen, y cuando los lectores vean 
que desde las primeras pajinas de la segunda parte comienzan a figurar 
los personajes mas importantes de la primera, anudando todos los.hilos del 
tejido dramatico de esta, se me figura que sere absuelto facilmente de mi 
falta, y aun quiza, motejado por algunos de nimio y escrupuloso. 

Nadie lo es, sin embargo, en demasia cuando se dirije al publico, y 
mucho menos el autor de esta obra, que acostumbrado a tratarle quiza 
con demasiada familiaridad desde la tribuna de la prensa, tiene que 
pedirle perdon por la lijereza con que escribe estas obras, que requieren 
otro asiento, otra holgura y tranquilidad de animo de que el autor, en- 
vuelto mal su grado en el torbellino de la politica, no disfruta. 

Nino todavia y desvalido mi injenio en este linaje de obras, natural 
era que fuese acojido con arrullos, que no han sido poderosos para 
adormecerme. Por el contrario, me han servido de estimulo para aspirar 
a merecer en esta Tercera Edicion, si no la severidad que troncha las 
plantas debiles, tampoco los muelles halagos que las doblegan y marchitan.ns 



112 The second edition is not available at this writing; this prologue was 
incorporated in the introduction to the third edition of dona Blanca de 
Navarra, 1847. 

us Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, 1848, pp. 421ff.-» "No vamos a ocu- 
parnos nuevamente de la obra de este titulo tres veces reimpresa en poco 



FRANCISCO NAVABRO VILLOSLADA 37 

The way in which Villoslada looked at this matter of revision, 
and the possibilities of a more perfected plan, as with increasing 
zeal he continued his minute investigations of la Cronica del 
fraile de Irache demonstrate that the vivacity of his imagination, 
the admirable freedom of his genius, the beauty and flexibility 
of his diction were innate virtues, which seemed to increase by 
cultivation, to such an extent that were he not to subject himself 
to publishing his installments shortly after their being written, 
he would revise the original form in the hope of investing his 
work with greater perfection. 114 

"When he has a large canvas, he is at his best." This he has 
in dona Blanca de Navarra. Our author in the second part 
Quince dias de Reinado, starts his narration fifteen years after 
the relation of events in the first part, and he announces that 
the manuscript, la Crqnica del fraile de Irache, which he is sup- 
posed to have consulted in writing the first part, is no longer 
available. Upon reading the first few pages, the reader finds 
he has no occasion to deplore the loss, for Villoslada continues to 
depict the epoch with admirable truth, revealing the same inten- 
sive investigation as in la Princesa de Viana. We find the same 
appeal of the old and curious, the same familiar knowledge of 
ancient ways which enabled him to give to his novels the necessary 
touch of novelty. The spontaneity of style, which endowed them 



tiempo y justamente celebrada por la prensa, no con esos elogios vulgares 
que hoy se dispensan con profusion a todo lo que se inrprime, sino con la 
apreciacion detenida que pide la critica, para pronunciar su fallo con la 
autoridad debida sobre las producciones del talento. Tratamos a fuer de 
amantes que somos de las letras espanolas, de llamar la atencion hacia una 
nueva parte con que ha poco ha enriquecido el autor la intersante cronica 
de Dona Blanca. Por fortuna para compensar la falta de espacio, tenemos 
la ventaja de que habiendose hecho popular la historia de la Princesa de 
Viana, los que nos lean se hallan en el caso de comprender con poco que 
digamos lo que haga relacion a la segunda parte de la novela. ... El libro 
en que se ha impreso la primera parte de Dona Blanca y en que ha visto 
por primera vez la luz publica la segunda, esta impreso, etc. . . . Los 
mismos editores se hallan a punto de comenzar la publicacion de otra nueva 
novela del mismo autor titulada Bona TJrraca, que si corresponde toda a lo 
que de ella hemos tenido ocasion de juzgar, esta indudablemente destinada a 
asentar la reputacion de novelista, que el Sr. Villoslada ha sabido con- 
quistarse con las obras que lleva impresas. " 

114 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. 



38 LITEEARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

with vitality, and above all his purity of diction, 115 give a per- 
spective freed from the burden of overexpression. 116 

This last statement may be modified somewhat. Villoslada 
realized emotionally as well as intellectually the possibilities of 
the subject, la fecundidad del asunto 117 as Blanco Garcia aptly 
says. This realization led him to expand his theme, to recon- 
struct scenes, to add new characters, and in the second part there 
is noticeable a certain amplification which retards the action, 
which is entirely absent in his first inspiration. Perhaps it was 
this fault to which Blanco Garcia referred when he said: "No 
agrada tanto como la primera parte la segunda con que aumento 
su obra el autor, estimulado por el exito, y acaso tambien por 
la fecundidad del asunto." 118 La Princesa de Viana "diverts you 
by taking the most brilliant leaps through the hoop," Quince dias 
de reinado fascinates you as an old theme familiarly treated but 
improved as to style. 

The regret generally manifested that an author so eminently 
fitted to this difficult branch of literature should have been 
caught in the whirl of journalistic endeavor, is well founded, for 
his power in the field of historical romance, places him, according 
to Blanco Garcia, second to none. Speaking of Enrique Gil's 
novel el Senor de Bembibre 119 he says: "Mucho aventaja esta a 
todas las novelas historicas que la precedieron en Espana, y no 
es pequefia gloria para Enrique Gil el que su unico competidor, 
encumbrado sobre el en todos conceptos, se llame Navarro Villos- 
lada." 120 There can be no question but that the first part of the 
revised third edition shows a care and an accuracy which are 
lacking in the original inspiration, and it is to the credit of 



us Garcia, op. cit., I, 384ff.; Blanco, op. cit., pp. 130ff.; Letter of dona 
Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917; Semanario Pintoresco 
Espanol, II (1847), "Critica literaria," p. 151; Fitzmaurice-Kelly, op. cit., 
p. 420; La Ilus. Esp. y Amer., op. cit., XXXIX (1895), num. 33, p. 130. 

lie Goy, op. cit., num. 180, p. 470. 

ii7 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 369. 

us Ibid. 

us Ibid., I, 98, 137, 155, 174, 311, 318, 366, 421; II, 301. Gonzalez 
Blanco, op. cit., p. 129; Pineyro, El Romanticismo en Espana, pp. 279-86. 

120 Ibid., op., cit., I, 369. 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 39 

Villoslada that in the midst of so many editorial engagements, he 
still found time to undertake this revision. 

The second part admirably develops the moral desired to be 
conveyed, 121 but in so doing, the wonderful spontaneity of action 
is sacrificed. There is a question in the writer's mind as to the 
extent of revision in the second edition of la Princesa de Viand, 
and the changes made between the second edition and the first 
part of the third. The inability to procure the second edition 
prevents any definite statement as to this point. 

Intellectually considered, it is to Villoslada ? s credit that he 
preferred to carry the original picture in his mind, stretching it 
beyond its original compass; that his dona Blanca de Nauarra 
is the "compound metal," derived from various mines, but it 
is a pity that in the formulation of this compromise between his 
original picture and his intellectual recognition of its possibili- 
ties as to scope and style, the very fecundidad del asunto should 
weaken the whole. The third edition reflects results of careful 
work; it is the expression of the expansive cheerfulness of one 
who was willing to toil manfully at journalistic work for twelve 
hours, and then return home and continue his novel until mid- 
night. 122 

Blanco Garcia goes still further in his discriminating com- 
ment. Speaking of Manuel Fernandez y Gonzalez, he says : 

Fernandez y Gonzalez escribia novelas por costumbre, por genialidad 
y por temperamento, pues algo tuvo de funcion organica en su monotonia 
y celeridad constante este modo de satisfacer periodicamente, con deter- 
minado numero de volumenes, a la necesidad propia 6 ajena. Si, en 
vez de adquirirla, hubiese seguido el rumbo que le marcaban sus primeros 
ensayos, enfrenando su natural impetuosidad para que no se desbordase 
sin fruto ni provecho, es probable que en el hubiera logrado Espana, ya 
que no un rival de Walter Scott, a lo menos otro imitador tan feliz como 
Navarro Villoslada. Juntos comenzaron su carrera de novelistas, adop- 
tando despues las direcciones mas radicalmente opuestas que pueden 
imaginarse. Mientras que el uno reformaba con severidad los defectos de 
sus primeros dias, madurando los planes, eastigando el estilo e inter- 
nandose mas y mas en el estudio de las figuras que hace intervenir en sus 



121 Prologo, dona Blanca de Navarra. 

122 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. 



40 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

obras, iba el otro avezandose a los trabajos de pacotilla, sin correcion 
y sin gracia, hechos exclusivamente para alimento de la imaginacion y la 
curiosidad.123 

Dona Blanca de Navarra es una galeria de escenas hermosamente ilumi- 
nadas, asi en lo que tiene de ficcion como en lo que tiene de historia, 
destaeandose en el fondo la virginal fisonomia de la infortunada Princesa. 124 

Villoslada discontinued the directorship of both the Sema- 
nario Pintoresco Espanol and el Siglo Pintoresco with the July 
numbers of 1846. 125 A sonnet 126 written in 1843 and an article 
Torre de Babel appear in the Semanario of 1846. His only other 
signed contribution to el Siglo Pintoresco was his historical novel 
el Caballero sin nombre running through the May to December 
numbers of volume III, 1847. 127 At the end of 1847 el Siglo Pin- 
toresco was amalgamated with the Semanario Pintoresco Es- 
panol. 128 A short novela, el Amor de una reina, appears in the 
Semanario in the January numbers of 1849. This is a synopsis 
of dona TJrraca de Castilla, contributed by Villoslada at the time 



123 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 382fr\ 

124 Ibid., II, 273. 

125 Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, I (1846), 216: "Ha cesado en la 
direccion del Semanario Pintoresco Espanol y del Siglo Pintoresco, que tan 
dignamente desempenaba, Don Francisco Navarro Villoslada, habiendo sido 
confiado desde el presente numero [Julio 5 de 1846] a Don Angel Fernandez 
de los Bios." El Siglo Pintoresco, II (1846), 168. 

126 Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, I (1846), 16: 

"Sal de mi corazon, hondo secreto 
del amor que mi pecho despedaza; 
rompe una vez la barbara mordaza 
que me impuso tiranico el respeto. 

El profundo desden osado reto 
con que el angel que adoro me amenaza, 
siguiedo el rumbo que el deber me traza 
a mas fiero martirio me sujeto. 

Hundi en silencio mi osadia loca; 
calle ppr no estrellar amor tamano 
contra un impio corazon de roca; 

Mas hoy que se conjuran en mi dafio 
negros celos tambien, sal de mi boca, 
sal a ver si me mata un desengano. ' ; 

127 Pp. 105-277. 

128 Ibid., 1848, p. 2: "Poco ha que anunciamos* la incorpaeion de El 
Renacimiento : hoy podemos anadir la de la Espana Pintoresca y Artistica 
de Van-Halen que se proponia por objeto uno de los que forman la base de 
nuestro periodico; la de El Siglo Pintoresco, cuyo credito y suscriciones 
hemos agregado a el, y la de otro Semanario Pintoresco Liter ario y Artistico, 
cuyo prospecto se repartio, marcando en el un plan identico al que nosotros 
hemos seguido hasta ahora. " See also el Siglo Pintoresco, II (1847), 288. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 41 

that his historical novel dona Urraca, the second of his best known 
novels, was in the press. 129 

Villoslada, in his explanatory note to his resume, says : 

El Eeinado de Dona Urraca de Castilla y de Leon, es uno de los mas 
oscuros y embrollados de nuestra historia. Tenemos sin embargo acerca 
de el un libro, de los que suelen, mas que en ninguna nacion, escasear en 
la nuestra; unas Memorias contemporaneas. Ocultas, y de muy pocos 
conocidas por espacio de mas de seiscientos anos, hasta que aparecieron 
impresas a fines del pasado siglo, merced a la laboriosidad del P. M. 
Florez, han sido posteriormente no muy leidas por la repugnancia que 
inspira una historia abultada y escrita en un latin semi-barbaro y en 
muchos pasages inintelegible. 130 

Dona Urraca de Costilla is, therefore, the result of Villos- 
lada 's intensive work with these Memorias as his guide. In his 
Prologo 131 to the first edition of dona Urraca, he enters into still 
further detail as to the value of these Memorias. 

A fines del siglo pasado aparecieron impresas las Memorias del primer 
arzobispo de Santiago, don Diego Gelmirez, escritas por tres canonigos 
de aquella catedral desde los anos 1102 a 1139. Aunque en la impresion 
tienen por titulo, Historia Compostellana, y por el han sido constantemente 
citadas; su verdadero nombre es Registro, y por tal quiso el prelado, que 
fuesen conocidas. En efecto, estan encabezadas con las siguientes palabras 



129 Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, 31 de dieiembre de 1848, pp. 421-23 
"Los mismos editores [Gaspar 7 Roig] se hallan a punto de comenzar la 
publicacion de otra novela del mismo autor titulada Dona Urraca, que si 
corresponde toda a lo que de ella hemos tenido ocasion de juzgar, esta indu 
dablemente destinada a asentar la reputacion de novelista, que el Sr. Villos 
lada ha sabido conquistarse con las obras que lleva impresas; lastima y 
lastima grande, que quien tan felices disposiciones manifiesta para el cultivo 
de este dificil genero de literatura, ocupe el tiempo en esa lucha de esteriles 
resultados a que arrastra el periodismo politico. Es ciertamente admirable 
la facilidad con que este autor suele dedicarse a la vez a muchos y variados 
escritos, que siempre recibe el publico con agrado; esto no obstante, nosotros 
le aconsejariamos que se dedicara a la novela con esclusion a todo otro 
trabajo, asi podria imprimir a sus producciones un sello de perfeccion, que 
no es posible exigir de quien, segun tenemos entendido, escribe dictando y 
trabaja alternativamente en trabajos de distintos generos. 

1 ' No es solo nuestro deseo de que quien con tan buena estrella ha entrado 
en un campo virgen, como lo es en Espafia el de la novela contemporanea, 
adelante en el, es que ereemos que su buena fortuna seria un estimulo para 
que otros ingenios se dedicaran a este dificil ramo de la literatura, y que 
asi podria ponerse termino a ese incansable afan de traducir y de leer tra- 
ducciones, que esplotan a su sabor muchos de nuestros editores, corrompiendo 
lastimosamente el gusto del publico. " 

130 Ibid., 14 de enero de 1849, p. 3. 
i3i Bona Urraca de Castilla, 1849. 



42 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Incipit primus liber Eegistri Venerdbilis Compost ellanae Ecclesae Pontificis 
Didaci Secundi : ' ' Comienza el libro primero del Eegistro del venerable 
obispo de la iglesia compostelana Diego segundo. 

Villoslada 's comment on the above follows: 

Los que conozcan la propiedad de la palabra latina registrum, y sepan 
que la de memoriae, en la acepcion de escrito, no se ha empleado nunca en 
este idioma sino acompanada de magister, para signincar el encargado de 
los libros en que se conservaban las cosas memorables del imperio, no 
tendran difieultad en confesar que Eegistro en el Siglo XII es lo que se 
acercaba mas a lo que hoy se comprende con el nombre de Memorias. 

El titulo ademas esta de acuerdo con la obra: a escepcion de las seis 
primeras paginas, solo se refieren en ella los hechos propios y particulares 
del obispo de su iglesia. Tiene ademas la circunstancia de haberse escrito 
dia por dia, conforme los sucesos iban acaeciendo: la pluma sigue la 
marcha de los acontecimientos: con ellos se detiene, con ellos vuela y 
se precipita. 

Dos canonigos, amigos intimos y familiares de don Diego, llamados 
Nuno Alfonso y Hugo, espanol aquel y frances este, recibieron el encargo 
de ir anotando diariamente cuanto a sus ojos pasaba, y consignando en 
el pergamino las revelaciones y confianzas de su senor y prelado. 

No transcurrio mucho tiempo sin que uno y otro fuesen elevados a 
la dignidad episcopal, y al partirse a sus respectivas iglesias, constante 
don Diego Gelmirez en su proposito de legar a la posteridad noticias 
importantisimas y secretas acerca de su pontificado, encomendo a Gerardo, 
canonigo tambien de Compostela, la continuacion del Eegistro. 

Prosiguio el nuevo escritor la tarea de sus companeros; las Memorias 
estan escritas de letra suya hasta pocos anos antes del fallecimiento del 
obispo: la muerte sin duda corto al mismo tiempo el hilo de la vida del 
historiador y el de la historia, y como suele, debio cortarlos de improviso; 
pues en el ultimo capitulo no hay una palabra siquiera que indique la 
intencion de suspender el relate 

Villoslada, by his training, had acquired a love for the classics, 
and this love persists. In the writing of his historical romances, 
and as far as the writer is able to determine, more particularly 
in the case of dona TJrraca de Costilla, which was based on the 
Memorias, written as he himself says, in a semibarbarous Latin, 
his education as a Latinist served him well. 132 



132 The following are taken from his dona TJrraca (for edition see foot- 
note 131) ; in each case the Spanish and explanatory footnote will be cited, 
(p. 43) : "Soy el unico que os ama como mereceis ser amada, con una com- 
pleta abnegacion: Comes iste (don Pedro Gonzalez de Lara), ut rumor 
ajebat, firmissima amoris catena Urracae Eeginae obsequi solitus erat. His- 
toria Compostellana, lib. II, cap. 9, pag. 270." (p. 58) : "Lloraba el tierno 



F BAN CI SCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 43 

Again, the work of Villoslada indicates plainly that his 
analysis of historical data was intensive. It must necessarily 
have been so, to effect such a faithful characterization of the age 
as he depicted. Blanco Garcia very aptly says of him, "liaci- 
endolas sentir." His earnestness appeals. Through footnotes 
or otherwise, the currents of thought and investigating discrim- 
ination in his own active mind are made evident. 133 It will be 
recalled that in his Prolog o to his dona Blanca de Navarra, this 
minuteness on his part was a very conscious process, for he 



infante, y el ama por acallarlo le dio el pecho, y arrullandolo despues, 
mientras tomaba el sol, le cantaba mil diversas canciones, entre las cuales 
resonaron, en medio del silencio de aquella soledad, las siguientes coplas, en 
el ya para entonces f ormado dialecto gallego : 

1 
Amores tern a Reina, 

d 'amores esta, enmeigada: 

non direi quern sea 6 meigo 

pero . . . Lara, lararara. 

;Lara, lara! 
2 
Danlle sones falagueiros 

os xoglares cando yanta; 

mais de cote non eseoita 

sinon . . . Lara, lararara . . . 

I Lara, lara! 
(Amores tiene la Reina: hechizada esta de amores: no dire yo quien sea 
el hechicero: pero . . . Lara, lara, etc. Musicas halagiienas le cantan los 
juglares mientras esta comiendo; pero ella no suele escuchar otra que . . . 
Lara, lara, etc.) "Andaban su nombre (el de don Pedro de Lara) y el de 
la Reina puestos af rentosamente en cantares y coplas. ' ' Mariana, lib. X, 
cap. 8, p. 164: "Ahora bien: que mi madre se ha casado publico es et 
notorio: La frase latina es mas energica y vulgar: "Patet lippis et tonso- 
ribus matrem meam maritali tlwro gavissam fuisse," que literalmente dice: 
' ' Hasta los ciegos y barberos saben . . . etc. ' ' ; pero que debe traducirse 
por otra frase vulgar castellana: "No hay cosa mas de sobra sabida . . . 
En las plazas se dice . . . etc." Se ha creido que en boca de un hijo no 
estaba bien ninguna de ellas. 

133 Cf. dona TJrraca de Castilla (p. 103) : "Tantos estas como las demas 
indicaciones que se hacen en este capitulo, son rigurosamente historicas. En 
general el deseo de no entorpecer el curso de la narracion, nos obliga a ser 
muy parcos en notas comprobantes de los hechos, por mas que alguna vez 
las creamos curiosisimas 6 indispensables. ' ' (p. 134): "No podemos escu- 
sarnos de presentar aqui la prueba de estos hechos en las siguientes lineas 
que traducimos de la Historia Compostelana." Los intestinos enemigos del 
obispo ' l hicieron una conspiracion llamada Hermandad, en la cual se ligaban 
"con el juramento de auxiliarse, defenderse y favorecerse mutuamente 
"contra todo el mundo; de manera que si alguno recibia injuria 6 dano 
"de algun poderoso, 6 de cualquiera que no perteneciese a la Hermandad, 
"sus complices estaban obligados a socorrerle segun sus facultades. 
"Anadian otras muchas cosas que es largo referir, y encaminandolo todo 
contra el obispo, y eon el objeto de quebrantar su poderio, hicieron Abadesa 



44 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

remarks ". . . se me figura que sere absuelto facilmente de mi 
fait a, y aun quiza mot ej ado por algunos de nimio y escrupu- 
loso." 134 

His readers, instead of finding fault, may well give him credit 
for this attention to historical minutiae, which invest his char- 
acters with such originality. Blanco Garcia, with his usual ef- 
fective comment says: 

. . . descubren al novelista de raza, que no lo es, como tantos otros, 
por capricho 6 por aficion esteril. Alll se ve la Edad Media tal como fue, 
sin velos ni retieencias, con su caracter idealista y aventurero, sus luchas 
sangrientas entre raza y raza, entre instituciones e instituciones, sus 
grandezas, crimenes y desigualdades. Intrigas de corte, tragedias de 
amor, indomitas aristocracias y desenfrenos del populacho, todo aparece 
al natural gracias al estudio reflexivo y a la perspicacia propia del ver- 
dadero ingenio. Sin ser aparatosamente conmovedores y extranos, 
guardan los incidentes un orden inalterable, obedecen a impulsos y 
pasiones de verdad, sucediendose con rapidez, pero sin violencias de 
ninguna clase.iss 

This position assumed by Villoslada, this ripeness of re- 
flection and special study is doubly significant when we recall 
that it was assumed by a man who felt a special responsibility 
in writing upon public matters, considering the welfare of the 
masses ' ' far more important than anything referring to fame or 
fortune alone. " 

A comment of his own may be given to illustrate his attitude 
towards journalistic and political work which formed so great a 
part of his life. Significant indeed are his own words : 



de la Hermandad a la Eeina dona Urraca. . . . Acerca de estas sociedades 
del siglo XII, desconocidas a nuestra historia general, nos suministra datos 
curiosisimos el monje anonimo de Sahagun, tambien coetano. " (p. 221): 
"Histor. Compost, lib. I, cap. 107, pag. 206:" (p. 259) : "La relacion de 
estos suplicios, usados por gentes que vivian en la misma epoca, esta casi 
literalmente tomada de la Historia de Sahagun, por el Monje anonimo. 
Omitimos otros tormentos mucho mas barbaros que nuestra pluma se resiste 
a transcribir. Vease la Historia citada desde el capitulo 40 hasta el 45. 
El episodio de Ataulfo de Moscoso es puramente tradicional: en el caracter 
de este personaje y en los hechos principales del cuento, convienen todos, 
pero cada cual procura adornarlo con los perfiles j dibujos que son mas de 
su agrado. ' ' These examples could be extended, but the above are sufficient 
to show the interinfluence of historical comment in his romantic creations. 

134 Cf. dona Blanca de Navarra, 1847. 

135 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 273. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 45 

. . . acostumbrado a tratarle [the public] quiza con demasiada famili- 
aridad desde la tribuna de la prensa, tiene que pedirle perdon por la 
lijereza con que escribe estas obras [la Princesa de Yiana and Quince dias de 
reinado] que requieren otro asiento, otra holgura y tranquilidad de animo 
de que el autor, envuelto mal su grado en el torbellino de la politica, no 
disfruta.ise 

Pregnant with meaning are these words of our novelist. They 
seem the mournful echo of a growing aversion and distaste of that 
which he realized was hampering his love for the unexpressed 
traditions of his beloved Basques. Well might the hidden appeal 
of these words be interpreted in Dry den's own phrase, "cursedly 
confined. ' ' 

To the very rapidity of the torbellino of his political career 
with its final deception, and to the "false gallop" of journalistic 
work, we are indebted for his heroic determination to seek in his 
later years the tranquilidad de animo so long desired. Resting in 
peaceful Viana from 1872 to 1886, 137 he who had done a dozen 
things at once all his life, did one thing that posterity will im- 
mortalize ; he wrote his Amaya, the Amaya which breathes an 
atmosphere of ingenuous simplicity and Homeric grandeur. His 
intense love for the traditions of the Basques, strongly expressed 
in his dona Blanca de Navarra: Cronica del siglo XV, and in his 
dona Vrraca de Castilla: Cronica del siglo XII, is converted into 
the passion of sacrifice. Thus did the poeta de las tradiciones 
euscaras with his unhampered imagination give substance to the 
countless traditions of the Basques. Going further back in time 
than dona Vrraca, his Amaya 6 los Vascos en el siglo VIII, ex- 
presses as Blanco Garcia says : " . . . las creencias, mitad primi- 
tivas, mitad supersticiosas, del pueblo vasco . . . producen, por 



136 Cf . Prologo, dona Blanca de Navarra. 

137 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "Harto ya de 
politica no volvio a ocuparse de ella y entonces fue cuando se dedico a tra- 
bajos exclusivamente liter arios y escribio Amaya para cuya obra hizo un 
estudio detalladisimo de la historia, usos y costumbres del Siglo VIII, ..." 
Goy, "Flores del Cielo," in el Perpetuo Socorro, num. 203, p. 402: "En 
un silencioso parentesis de catorce anos encierrase la vida de Villoslada. 
. . . Desde el 72 al 86 ni un solo articulo politico 6 de polemica broto de su 
pluma. Desilusionado de las asperezas de la vida real, fuese a suavizarlas 
entre las virtudes de los excelsos personajes de su magnifica novela Amaya, 
et seq." 



46 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

su lejania y fabulosa antiguedad, un efecto algo semejante al de 

la Mitologia griega y I'omana." 138, 

In a discussion of Villoslada's faithful characterization, the 

minute interest and study of the language itself formed just as 

important a feature of his work. Menendez y Pelayo, says of 

D. Serafin Estebanez Calderon, el Solitario: 13Q 

. . . uno de los escritores mas castellanos de estos tiempos, si no en la 
eleccion de cada palabra, a lo menos en el giro y rodar de la frase; cosa 
que vale mucho mas y es harto mas rara, como discretamente ha heeho 
notar el moderno y elocuente panegirista de las Escenas andaluzas, libro 
para el cual la posteridad ha llegado muy tarde, como si las aficiones 
areaicas del bibliofilo Estebanez hubiesen levantado un muro entre el 
escritor y su publico, . . . 

Similarly might one write of el Solitario de Yiana, but not 
only are his phrases to be commended as highly finished, but one 
is moved to wonder where he found time to make each word as 
perfect as uttermost care and attention could possibly effect. 140-141 

In the absence of more extensive means, his introductions to 
his novels, his prologos, and his isolated articles must serve as the 
basis of this preliminary criticism. The prologue to his dona 
Urraca is of critical and psychological interest, for added to this 
minute study of history and scrupulous attention to language 



138 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 277. 

139 e studios de critica literaria (Madrid, 1908), p. 386. 

140, 141 i n the appendices to his dona Urraca de Castilla (for edition see 
footnote 131), under heading of Errores, Descuidos y Erratas Villoslada 
says : ' ' De todo, como en la vifia del Senor, hay en la presente obrilla. Con 
solo advertir que el libro se ha impreso en ausencia del autor, sin que a este 
le haya sido posible corregir las pruebas, a escepcion de las primeras 
paginas, y que el original se ha remitido de varies puntos de Navarra y las 
Provincias Vascongadas en cartas copiadas por diversos escribientes, parece 
que podiamos lavarnos las manos y echar la carga en agenos hombros. Esta 
suele ser la practica corriente, que no nos parece sin embargo muy digna, ni 
muy noble. Cada cual reconozca y prohije sus enjendros. 

"Falta es del autor haber dado el tratamiento de Altera a los reyes de 
Castilla y de Leon en el Siglo XII. No lo tuvieron hasta que lo llevo de 
Navarra y Aragon, donde mucho antes se usaba, importado sin duda de 
Francia, Fernando el Catolico. En el Cent on Epistolario del Bachiller 
Fernan Gomez de Cibdareal, podemos ver una carta en que este discretisimo 
medico da todavia al rey don Juan Segundo el vuestra senotia y vuestra 
merced indistintamente. De manera que con toda verdad puede decirse que 
nuestros reyes andaban entonces entre merced y senoria ... 

"Nuestro ha sido tambien el descuido de hacer a un cierto escudero que 
llevo a Eamiro al Castillo de Altamira, criado una vez- de Ataulfo y otra del 



FBANCISCO NAVAEEO YILLOSLADA 17 

and style, there is to be mentioned his boundless imagination. 
In this prologue as if unable to restrain his own calculating judg- 
ment, his imagination takes hold and the supernatural element 
receives emphasis, just enough however to preserve an atmosphere 
of mystery — the apparition of tradition. Villoslada delighted in 
the marvelous, but liked it better when allied to reality, prefer- 
ring that his romance should be true to the extent of having at 
least probability and verisimilitude. He continues : 

No es este resplandor el unico que nos ha guiado: mas eonfuso, pero 
tambien mas suave y misterioso, hemos visto vagar entre los escombros de 
un castillo incendiado, el fantastico fuego de la tradicion. A favor de 
uno v otro hemos osado penetrar eu anditos tan intrincados y tortuosos; 
y despues de romper las zarzas y malezas que cubren la entrada de esa 
negra y profunda sima del siglo XII; despues de espantar y aturdir las 
aves de mal agiiero de nuestra propia ignorancia y pereza, hemos descen- 
dido al hondo, y alii, como a don Quijote en la famosa cueva de Monte- 
sinos, nos ha sobrecogido el sueno, y han cruzado por nuestra fantasia 
visiones, ora dulces y deleitosas, ora terribles y cenudas, y hoy que 
estamos despiertos no podemos asegurar si fueron reales 6 aparentes. 

El que tenga euriosidad de averiguarlo, lea el Eegistro, lea las cronicas: 
consulte despues la tradicion que hemos consignado en un escrito. Si en 
el libro hay algo que no este ni en uno ni en otro, imaginado sera por ei 
novelist a: si no hay nada. como sospecliamos, nuestra sera la redaccion, 
nuestra la forma: el drama, de la historiaM 2 

Thus we learn with pleasure and with surprise how Villos- 
lada worked — he wrote books where every incident was either 
incredible yet strictly true, or credible yet strictly untrue. The 
popularity 143 of his two novels dona Blanca de Navarra and 



conde de Trava. Puede ser tambien que a los dos sirviese, aunque se dice 
que es imposible servir bien a dos seriores: el lector de todos modos no ha 
de pagarle el salario. 

Del escribiente 6 del impresor son faltas entre otras: fulminar rayos, por 
fulminar a secas en la pag. 32: perdido antes de nacer. por perdido poco 
despues de nacer, pag. 68: . . . amontonado por agolpado, pag. 165: desa- 
hogos por destellos, pag. 230 : etc., etc., que tanta af ectacion y vanidad hay 
en querer corregirlos todos, como abandono en no seiialar ning^mo. Xe quid 
nimis. (Astoria 10 de setiembre de 1819.) Villoslada felt no tempera- 
mental aversion to revising vdiat he had once vrritten. This has already 
been sufficiently discussed in connection -with his Princesa de Viana; the 
above is a specific reference to his solicitude in this respect. 

!42 The italics are inserted by the -writer. 

14 3 Xote by the editors, in dona Urraca de Castilla (for edition see foot- 
note 131) : " Al despedirnos de los senores suscritores que nos han favorecido 
en la publicacion de Bona Urraca de Castilla, no sera inoportuno manifestar 



48 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

dona Urraca de Castillo, so interspersed with apologies on his 
part, might well cause our author to exclaim with Walter Scott : 
"lam ashamed, for the first time in my life, of the two novels, 
but since the pensive public have taken them, there is no more 
to be said but to eat my pudding and to hold my tongue. ' ?144 

For twenty-eight years el Solitario de Viana enriched his 
visions by pictures of the past, gave them nobler interpreta- 
tions, evolved from them a greater richness and depth and in 
1877 Amaya arises triumphantly. 145 But the former pensive 
public has now become a very capricious and unjust judge. 

Eesuming our author 's career, Villoslada, upon his departure 
from Viana in 1840, had determined never to content himself 
with mediocrity, and this ambition persisted. He had raised the 
Semanario Pintoresco Espafiol to its high place, after it had 
lost much of the value imparted to it by its founder Mesonero 
Romanos, as already noted. He had imbued el Siglo Pintoresco 
with the highest journalistic ideals and had striven earnestly to 
sustain them. His contributors bear witness to this fact : Ramon 
de Navarrete, Hartzenbusch, Estebanez Calderon, Amador de 



que cuando a ella dimos principio contabamos existentes 300 ejemplares de 
Dona Blanca de Navarra, novela original tambien del Sr. Navarro Villoslada. 
Apenas habia salido a luz la 6 a . entrega, cuando estaban ya agotados dichos 
300 ejemplares, viendonos en el caso de no poder satisfacer los numerosos 
pedidos que se nos hacian, y de avisar a nuestros eorresponsales que se habia 
agotado la edicion. 

"Este hecho demuestra de una manera convincente que el publico acoje 
con singular y merecida predileccion las obras del senor Navarro Villoslada, 
cuya modestia no se ofendera si constituyendonos eco de los inteligentes, 
afirmamos que reune todas las dotes que del novelista exigen el arte y la 
critica. Esto demuestra tambien cuan erronea es la creencia de que las 
novelas originales espanolas no son bien aceptadas. Pruebas recientisimas 
tenemos de lo contrario, y por nuestra parte podemos citar el hecho de 
haberse agotado en pocos meses tres ediciones de la Dona Blanca de Navarra. 
Asi es que vamos a principiar la Cuarta Edicion, que haremos igual en un 
todo a la primera, esceptuando el papel, que sera mucho mas superior. " 
See also Semanario Pintoresco Espafiol, II (1847), 151, 376: "Tres edi- 
ciones agotadas en muy poco tiempo y los elogios unanimes de la prensa, 
et seq. ' ' 

144 Walter Scott's Journal, II, 473. 

145 Eitzmaurice-Kelly, in Historia de la literatura espanola, gives the 
date of publication of Amaya as 1877; the writer assumes this to be the 
year it appeared in the pages of la Ciencia cristiana, for according to 
Blanco Garcia, it appeared in book form in 1879, having previously been 
published in the review mentioned. 



FRANCISCO NAVAEBO VILLOSLADA 49 

los Rios, Ferrer del Rio, Francisco de Paula Madrazo, Gavino 
Tejado, and many others. During 1845, while entrusted with 
the directorship of these two reviews, he had become associated 
with el EspaTwl in June and began writing for this daily the 
first of his novels el Antecristo which was never completed, because 
of the failure of the review to meet its financial obligations. 146 

About this time he was also stenographer for el congreso, and 
upon the adjournment of the Cortes, he was asked to become 
redactor of la Gaceta with which he had been connected in 1840 
for a brief period. But his restless spirit, not content, soon 
began to plan his candidacy for diputado. Under date of May 1, 
1846, his mother writes to him: "Conque, ^ Diputado? Ya 
voy consintiendo verte a lo menos en candidatura. ■ Veremos ; 
hasta ver, j chiton ! Tu envanecida madre. ' ' 147 

Villoslada is now constantly before the public eye in one 
capacity or another. He has written an epic poem, many shorter 
poems, dramas and comedies, historical dramas in verse, articles 
of various kinds, and novels; he is editor and director of some 
of Spain's principal reviews; in a literary way he has formed 
associations and friendships with some of the best men of his 
day. During these busy years when Villoslada was pouring out 
so prodigally the first treasures of his prose fiction, not a shade 
of estrangement came between him and his mother. This close 
connection, and the intimate correspondence between them, is too 
honorable to both parties to be forgotten. The manly kindness 
and consideration of one noble nature was paralleled by the af- 
fectionate devotion and admiration of the other, and his literary 
career is brightened by the rare conjunction. He was then young, 
high spirited, overflowing with enthusiasm ; his mother was get- 
ting old, but no one felt more strongly the force and tenderness 
of those ties. Almost every step in his progress is marked by 



146 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: " Tambien 
publico el primer tomo de El Antecristo, novela de costumbres, pero como 
trono el empresario, no la continuo. 1917; Goy, op. tit., num. 181, p. 512: 
11 . . . escribiendo en El Espanol la primera de sus celebres novelas, El Ante- 
Cristo, la cual, por cierto, hubo de quedarse en la primera parte, pues la 
empresa no cumplio sus compromises, dejando de pagar al autor. " 

147 Goy, op. tit., num. 181, p. 513. 



50 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

some word or deed on her part. Thus rural Viana with its streams 
and rocks and oaks, dear to him as memorials of feudal valor 
and pastoral tranquillity, possessed also beautiful old memories of 
mother love. The following is one of doiia Pilar 's frequent letters 
to her boy about this time : "Tu padre se rie de lo que yo escribo, 
pero a mi daseme poco, porque lo hago para un hijo, que se yo 
que aunque fuese ministro, recibiria las cartas de su madre con 
placer; y de esto no me saca nadie." In February of 1846, 
realizing the amount of work her son was undertaking, she 
writes: "Poca es tu salud; no puedes menos de padecer traba- 
jando tanto. 148 

Villoslada's life during the six years that he had spent in 
Madrid were filled with work and steady progress. He had 
created for himself, as Blanco Garcia says, a solid reputation and 
was universally respected. 149 Meanwhile, no one bore his new 
honors more meekly, for he seems to have adopted, very early in 
life, certain principles of indifference to all outward causes of 
excitation. He was determined to concentrate his attention on 
his own pursuits, without allowing himself to be misled by 
plaudits, or vexed by criticism ; in this respect, we are reminded 
of Goethe, who used to say that his leading maxim through life 
had been, to keep himself in a state of tranquillity. He was 
paving the way for his entry upon that new phase of his life in 
which he was to distinguish himself as spokesman and interpreter 
of the catholic cause in the struggle between the liberals and 
the Carlists. 150 

El Espanol was an exponent of antigovernmental procedure 
during the years preceding the revolution of 1848, as well as 
during part of the period itself. It was originally founded by 
D. Andres Borrego 151 in 1834, and in its early stages was in no 



148 Ibid., pp. 513, 514. 

149 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 272. 
iso Goy, op. cit., num. 184, p. 67. 

isi Ossorio j Bernard, op. cit., p. 52: " Politico j periodista. ... El 
numero de producciones politicas, parlamentarias e historicas del Sr. Borrego, 
es extensisimo, y habra de ser consultado por cuantos traten de profundizar 
la historia politica de la Espana del siglo XIX. En ella, como figura de 
primera magnitud dentro del periodismo, constara siempre el que habiendo 



FBANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 51 

sense conservative. In that period of its existence, Villoslada 
was in no way connected with it. It ceased to exist and was 
succeeded by el Correo National 152 founded by Borrego in 1838, 
with which periodical, Villoslada was actively connected as a 
collaborator. Borrego in 1845 founded a second el Espaiiol. 
On its staff were Velaz, Barzanallana, Garrido, Grijalba, Galvez, 
Pedroso, and others. Among these contributors, Villoslada stood 
out so prominently that by the middle of 1846, he was chosen its 
director, and for nearly two years remained at its head. 153 

Through 1847 the new Carlist war organized in England had 
continued in Cataluna, Cabrera at one time having an army of 
six thousand men under him. Don Carlos was prevented from 
entering Spain, and on the coming of Narvaez to power, the last 
embers of the uprising were quenched with blood. The times were 
such as could only be met with severity. In France, in Italy, in 
Hungary, in Prussia, revolutions were dominant and thrones were 
falling. The Pontiff, a fugitive from the Eternal City looked 
to faithful Spain only for support, the Bourbon throne of Naples 
trembled under the blows of Garibaldi, and the intriguer Louis 
Philippe, upon whom the Spanish moderates had depended, was 
himself masquerading as "Mr. Smith" in hospitable England. 

Fired by such events as these, liberal and republican revolts 
took place in Spain. Barricades sprang up in Madrid, and once 
more blood ran in the streets. The fall of the Isturiz cabinet 
presented impossible barriers as far as the hope of harmoniz- 
ing the various elements were concerned. 154 It was Narvaez who 
in those terrific days of March, 1848 drowned in blood the revo- 



alcanzado los puestos mas importantes de la Administracion, y obtenido las 
distinciones mas anheladas de Espana y el extranjero, sobreponia a todo el 
caracter de decano de los periodistas espanoles. " 

Villoslada dedicated his Quince Vias de Beinado to Borrego : " Al Senor 
Don Andres Borrego: al hombre cuyo talento y consecuencia politica re- 
conocen todos, y cuyas cualidades personales nadie aprecia tanto como su 
amigo Francisco Navarro Villoslada. See dona Blanca de Navarra, segunda 
parte, tercera edition, 1847. 

152 Blanco Garcia, op. tit., I, 97. 

153 Goy, op. tit., num. 184, p. 69; Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villos- 
lada de Sendin. 

154 Hume, Modem Spain, pp. 400-401; Castro, Historia de Espana, p. 266. 



52 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

lution in the streets of Madrid. One of the cries of the mutinous 
populace was "Viva la milicia nacional." 

The reestablishment of the national militia was not a part of 
the political programme of el Espanol up to that time, but un- 
known to its director, there appeared an article in its pages advo- 
cating the restoration of the national militia. Villoslada saw in 
this article a contradiction of the principles he had heretofore 
supported, and although connected actively with el Espanol since 
June, 1845, and its editor from the middle of 1846, presented 
his resignation on March 26, 1848. Our young journalist of 
thirty years was of the opinion that instead of the reestablish- 
ment of the national militia, there were necessary economic, 
administrative and educational reforms, tending towards the 
ultimate independence of church and state. That he regretted 
severing his connection with el Espanol is evident from his letter 
of resignation, which however places the convictions of the man 
paramount to all other considerations: "Salgo de el sin deber 
la mas pequena gracia a ninguno de los Gobiernos a quienes con 
toda lealtad he combatido 6 con todo desinteres apoyado. ' ' What 
reflects even greater credit upon Villoslada 's ability as editor, is 
the fact that following his resignation, the paper ceased publi- 
cation. But la Espana was soon founded by D. Pedro Egana 135 
and Villoslada; 156 the latter nominally if not actually, contin- 
ued as its director throughout its existence. Villoslada had 
gained the admiration and confidence of his collaborators in 
el Espanol, and with few exceptions, we find them upon the 
staff of la Espana. 157 Villoslada 's feelings were easily aroused 



155 Ossorio y Bernard, op. tit., p. 114: "Politico y periodista . . . Fue" 
fundador y director del periodico madrileiio La Espana (1848). Tambien 
colaboro en La Tribuna de los Economistas (1857), El Notitiero Bilbaino y 
otros periodicos." Villoslada dedicated his novel la Princesa de Viana to 
Egafia: "Al Exmo. Sr. D. Pedro Egafia. Por prenda de cordial y per- 
durable amistad, Francisco Navarro Villoslada." See dona Blanca de 
Navarra, 1847. 

ise Blanco Garcia, op. tit., XXXIX (1895), num. 33, p. 130: "A decir 
verdad, Navarro Villoslada no debio ser progresista mucho tiempo, puesel 
afio 48 fundo, con otros y como director el periodico moderado, La Espana, 
no sin protesta del Sr. Borrego, de quien habian sido redactores. ' ' 

157 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917 : 
"Fundo luego el diario La Espana el mas importante de aquellos tiempos — 



FBAXCISCO XAYABEO VILLOSLADA 53 

in the field of politics, his emphatic comments on governments 
which are interspersed throughout his writings, and the clear 
exposition of his political creed would naturally arouse the ire 
of opposing factions, and even endanger his life. His parents 
watching him from afar, ever solicitous for his welfare, write 
to him : ' ' Como director de uno de los periodicos que hace la 
oposicion al Gobierno [referring to el Espafwl], podras tener 
enemigos y darte algun mal rato, por lo que te suplico no andes 
solo de noche ; no dejes de hacer esto para que no este con 
cuidado." 158 

La Espana came into being when nearly all Europe was in 
revolt, and Spain was only being held in check by the iron hand 
of Narvaez. It was the opportune moment for the birth of a 
new periodical. ' ' The time has come, ' ' says Villoslada, in a cir- 
cular soliciting subscribers, "the hour has come to hoist a ban- 
ner under which all capable men, all honest men, all good servants 
of the nation may gather." La Espana had no political faction 
to serve, it was to be an independent periodical, it was not a 
paper of the government, but one of government. It swore to 
cease publication the day following its inability to praise frankly 
the worthy acts of the ministry or to censure moderately those 
which it deemed prejudicial to the nation. Villoslada 's avowed 
purpose in founding this paper was the creation in the spheres 
of public administration of a spirit superior to all factions, a 
spirit stronger and more lasting than the parties themselves. 
The editorial, whose character unequivocally breathes the lan- 
guage, convictions and purposes of Villoslada, makes him as a 
scholar, a moralist and a critic, great enough to demand unpre- 
judiced consideration. To quote Villoslada 's own words: "Si 
esta bandera necesitara arrastrarse servilmente a los pies o po- 
nerse ciega y livianamente a la disposicion de ningun interes 



1848 — que tenia por principal propietario a D. Pedro de Egana, ministro 
del partido moderado y entonces su trabajo fue improbo, porque a las tareas 
y hechas de un periodico diario, que dirigia, asi como las otras revistas, 
unia la novela Bona Blanca de Navarra." 

iss Goy, op. cit., num. 184, p. 70. 



54 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

especial, de ningtin gobierno, de ningun partido, el mismo dia 
romperiamos la pluma y rasgariamos el papel." 159 

Yilloslada had the courage of his opinions and he dared to 
preach as well as to practise them. His obiter dicta must be 
interpreted in the light of his known liberal views ; his philosophy 
is not novel, but possesses the largeness and disinterestedness of 
the man himself. The unaffected beauty of its hidden depths is 
likely to suffer from any attempt at polishing. 

In the autumn of 1846, when Villoslada was engrossed with 
his journalistic labors, his mother and Teresa Luna, 160 a niece of 
Felix Erenchun, his boyhood friend, were among the many 
strangers brought to Madrid by the approaching marriage of 
Isabel II and Don Francisco de Asis, Duke of Cadiz, and that of 
the Infanta Fernanda and the Duke of Montpensier. 161 The 
meeting of Yilloslada and Teresa Luna at this time led to their 
marriage on the twenty-first of February, 1847, at her home in 
Vitoria. They took up their residence in Madrid, the center of 
Villoslada 's activities. On the second of July, 1848, their first 
daughter was born in Madrid and she was named Blanca. 162 The 
delicate health of his wife obliged him to take her back to Yitoria, 
and because of the many duties requiring his presence in Madrid, 
he was obliged to return to the capital, residing for the greater 
part of the two succeeding years apart from her. He had a son, 
named Alfonso, who died on the day of his birth. Yilloslada 
finally abandoned his duties in Madrid, renouncing the excellent 
position he had acquired by reason of his literary and journal- 
istic success, and returned to Yitoria permanently as secretario 
del gobierno de provincia, on the twenty-seventh of March, 



159 Ibid., num. 185, pp. 111-15. 

160 Ibid., num. 182, p. 555: "Era Dona Teresa Luna natural de Vitoria: 
su padre D. Antonio alguna representacion tenia en la ciudad, puesto que lo 
vemos figurar activamente en la politica; por su madre descendia del ilustre 
Guergue, uno de los jefes carlistas fusilados en Estella. " 

lei Ibid., num. 181, p. 514. For a contemporaneous account of these 
royal marriages, see Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, I (1846), 323-346, 353- 
356, 362-366. 

162 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. His eldest 
daughter is still living. 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 55 

1850, 163 in order to be at the side of his wife, her health con- 
tinuing to fail. 164 A third child, a daughter, who was named 
Petra, was born on the twenty-ninth of June, 1851. 165 While he 
was in Vitoria, he wrote part of his dona Urraca de Castilla, his 
historical novel already discussed, and another historical novel 
of the fifteenth century which was not completed. 166 The death 
of his wife followed shortly after the birth of Petra, on August 
17, 1851. 167 She died suddenly from a heart attack while her 
husband sat at her bedside painting a picture and receiving her 
praise. Villoslada was only thirty-three years of age, but during 
the forty-four remaining years of his life he did not remarry. 168 
His admiration and love for the mother of his children recalls 
to mind the first two lines of his sonnet : 

Sal de mi corazon, hondo secreto 
del amor que mi peeho despedaza. 1 ^ 

Evidences of his depth of feeling are many. In such moments 
"the feeling of reverence which we entertain for that which is 
difficult of comprehension" is the strongest and most powerful 
language. August the fifteenth, 1860, nine years after the death 
of Villoslada 's wife, we find his two motherless daughters, Blanca 
who is twelve, Petra nine, at the communion altar with their 
father. No longer does el Solitario de Viand utter the words 
which came forth from the depths of his heart years before. 



163 La Bus. Esp. y Amer., op. cit., XXXIX (1895), 130. 

164 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "La vida 
domestica le obligo otra vez a dejar La Espana porque mi pobre madre, 
un angel en la tierra eomo le llamaba mi Padre, cayo enferma en su casa 
natal de Vitoria, y alia tuvo que ir con el empleo de Secretario del Gobierno 
de Provincia, y alia eseribio en parte Bona Urraca de Castilla." 

165 His daughter, dona Petra resides in Madrid. 

166 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. The name of 
this novel is unknown to the writer. 

iv?. Ibid. : "Por fin murio mi Madre 1851 a los 50 dias de nacer yo. Mi 
Padre entonces se sentia morir dulcemente, y hubiera sucumbido si no hace 
un esfuerzo sobre si mismo pensando que Dios le habia dejado dos hijas y 
que estaba obligado a velar por ellas. ' ' 

168 Goy, op. cit., num. 184, pp. 65-66: Letter of dona Petra Navarro 
Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917: "Aun permanecio dos anos mas en 
Vitoria por el trabajo que le costaba desprenderse de los restos de su amada 
esposa. " 

169 Quoted in footnote 126. 



56 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

jOh, buen Jesus, el mundo 
desde tus alas visto al blando abrigo 
inspira horror profundo. 
Ahora que estas eonmigo, 
sube al cielo, mi Dios, que yo te sigo! 

but assuming his real place at the feet of the Virgin, he exclaims : 

jVirgen Santa! el que Te implora 
Es un pobre pecador; 
Pero es un padre, Senora, 
;Es un Padre, y Madre sois! 

Miradme, en ardiente abrazo 
Dos ninas estreeho, dos 
Angeles, que en tu regazo 
Anidaran desde hoy! 170 

In the midst of activities incident to an active journalistic 
career, his sensitive mood of poetic reverie must find expression. 
Villoslada might have been a mere dreamer, but there were stout 
and chivalrous ruling traits which conquered. 

Important as Villoslada 's journalistic career was in Spain 
in the years already reviewed, his attitude and collaboration with 
Pedroso, 171 Garrido, Ayala, Selgas 172 and Suarez Bravo 173 in the 
satirical weapon el Padre Cobos makes him a still more formid- 
able factor in the political life of Spain. 174 This publication first 
appeared on the twenty-fourth of September, 1854, and continued 
until the thirtieth of June, 1856. 175 Blanco Garcia 176 characterizes 
this periodical as follows: 

Tenia el Padre Cobos un tinte moderado que no debe, sin embargo, 
hacernosle considerar como arma de un partido exclusivamente politico: 
era la contrarevolucion encarnada en el periodico, el buen sentido en 



170 Goy, op. cit., num. 207, p. 18. 

1 71 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., XI, 574. 

172 ibid., pp. 21, 550-51. 

173 Ibid., pp. 225-26, 254. 

i74 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "Llamado a 
Madrid por sus amigos fnndaron entre varios de los mejores literatos de 
aquel tiempo el famoso periodico satirico El Padre Cobos que acabo con la 
situacion progresista del afio 54. Conseguido su objeto ceso la publicacion 
del periodico." For the history of el Padre Cobos, see Blanco Garcia, op. 
cit., II, 249ff. 

175 Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 210. 

176 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 250. 



FBANCISCO NAVAJRBO VILLOSLADA 57 

todas sus explicaciones, la protesta viva de la Espafia no representada en 
el Congreso, y herida en sus mas puros sentimientos por la farsa imperante 
y el desatentado orgullo de ridiculos innovadores . . . 

&Que decir del ingenio derrochado a manos llenas en las eolumnas de 
aquella publicacion? A diferencia de tantas otras como consume la 
voracidad del tiempo, consagrada a los frivoles intereses de un dia, con- 
serva la aureola de un prestigio a prueba de ataques y preocupaciones; 
sus rasgos satiricos se transformaron en proverbios, su solo nombre en 
un simbolo. 

Villoslada 's style in critical work of this nature, lacking in 
dogmatism, possesses an adroitness and pungency which is ad- 
mirably suited to accomplish the purposes of this review. i i Pole- 
mista formidable por su ilustracion, la sagacidad de su inteli- 
gencia, la fina y punzante ironia con que se burlaba del adversario 
con cortesia aparente ; periodista de pluma siempre gallarda, ha 
sido uno de los maestros que hicieron mejor papel cuando escribia 
un Lorenzana. ' ' 

A good exposition of Villoslada 's style in his critical journal- 
istic work may be judged from an article written shortly after 
his death; the section quoted bears unmistakable evidence that 
there could not have been any slovenly indifference in his work, 
but rather a rapidity of conception and facility of expression 
which kept pace with his earnestness : 

No nos explicamos que haya muerto sin ingresar en la Academia de 
la Lengua; buscaban su firma y leian sus articulos por saborear la ele- 
gancia de su diccion y su vigor de pensamiento, aun aquellos que detesta- 
ban la intencion de sus escritos. Lastima grande que la obra principal de 
aquel insigne escritor haya caido en ese rio, que todo lo arrastra, de la 
prensa, y no pueda formar cuerpo. Mereceria sin embargo, siquiera en 
forma de soberbios fragmentos, en algun libro, de seguro muy notable. 177 

The first ten numbers of el Padre Co~bos were literary in char- 
acter, but this was soon changed, and on the third of December, 
el Padre Cobos, in the guise of a good priest, announced the prin- 
ciples which would henceforth be its guide : 

Mi Paternidad ha resuelto echarse a la vida politico,; quiere tambien 
vela en este entierro, porque esta seguro de que aqui se entierra algo. Mi 
Eeverencia, en una palabra, se consagra a la politica. No perdera por 
eso su habitual cortesia, ni sus humos literarios, ni su amor a las artes, 



1 77 La Ilus. Esp. y Amer., op. cit. 



58 LITEBABT AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ni su conciencia, ni su buen humor, ni su malicia, ni su camisa limpia. 
Hoy sale a luz con habito politico, aunque algunos digan que ya lo usaba 
antes. Con esto y con algunas gotas de agua bendita para tormento de 
los malos, y tortura de los tontos, pone las manos en la masa, esto es, 
el dedo en la llaga, que masa es y llaga tiene eso que se llama la gestion 
6 el agio de la cosa publica. 178 

Villoslada 's life shows little in the way of political glory 
through tenure of office to compensate him for his arduous polit- 
ical journalistic labors. He was never a seeker of honors, nor 
would he submerge his personality to obtain them. Numerous 
opportunities offered themselves following changes of ministry, 
but he declined whenever there appeared any contradiction to his 
principles. 179 In this epoch, although we have not the exact date, 
Villoslada successively occupied with the moderate party the 
position of oficial tercero, segundo y primero del Ministerio de la 
Gobernacion. 180 On the eighteenth of March, 1852, by royal 
decree of Isabel II, he. was named Caballero de gratia de la 
inclita Orden militar de San Juan de Jerusalen, libre de gastos, 
a exception de los derechos del titulo, 181 and in 1857 he was 
elected for the first time diputado from Estella. Upon two other 
occasions he was similarly honored. 182 

In 1857 the government commissioned Villoslada to study the 
condition of typographical art in Paris and Vienna. The result 
of this commission was his Historia de la Imprenta National 
comparada con las de Paris y Yiena, which work has never been 
published. 183 The journey likewise led to the writing of his 
Itinerario de Madrid a Yiena, with its various episodes and fitting 
reflections, which also remains unpublished. 184 An interesting 
article, entitled Covadonga was published in January of 1857. 185 



•178 Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 210. 

179 Letter of Dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. 

iso Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 272. 

i8i Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 212. 

182 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: 'En 1857 
salio diputado a Cortes la primera vez. Lo fue despues en otras dos legis- 
laturas." Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 212. 

iss ibid. 

184 Goy, op. cit., num. 194, p. 557; num. 207, p. 16. 

185 See el Museo Universal, Madrid, 15 de enero'de 1857, pp. 4-6. 



FEANCISCO NAVAEBO VILLOSLADA 59 

This same year he was named director of la Gaceta de Madrid, 
but never assumed charge. 180 This was doubtless due to his ab- 
sence from Spain on his other commission. There is another 
article el Mundo nuevo published in January of 1853. 187 

Villoslada founded el Pensamiento Espahol, the first number 
appearing on the first of January, I860. 188 Villoslada previously 
belonged to the moderates but with the founding of el Pensamiento 
Espanol, 189 he abandoned himself as a whole to the support of 
the Catholic Church. 190 In this review he put his whole heart 
and soul; it is Goy's opinion that the pages of el Pensamiento 
form the basis of Villoslada 's greatness. Our author had been 
reared in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and was eminently 
fitted to wage its battles. It was a period when the church 
in Spain was in sore need of such a leader — when liberalistic 
tendencies were sweeping aside conservatism and tradition. It 
was by no means the popular side on which he fought, but he 
never faltered, seemingly oblivious to his own interests in his 
efforts to check the rising tide. His associates left him alone with 
all responsibilities, financial as well as literary, and he continued 
on his way. "We cannot but admire the tenacity and constancy 
of character displayed throughout this long though losing fight. 

Later he became the chief factor in the reorganization of the 
Carlist cause, the faithful counsellor of Charles VII in the days 
of the Pretender's greatest trials. His chief associates on el 
Pensamiento in the beginning were the Tejados and the Mar- 
queses de Santa Cruz, and Valdegamas. 191 Towards the end of its 
existence it was sustained in a literary and financial way by him- 



186 Ossorio y Bernard, op. cit., p. 302. 

is? Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, 1853, pp. 380-82, 387-89, 394. 

188 Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 213. 

189 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 13, 273ff., 325. 

190 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin : l ' Convencido 
cada vez mas de que solo en el partido integramente catolico estaba la ver- 
dad, renuncio a todo empleo politico 7 fundo el periodico mas importante y 
mas acreditado que ha tenido este partido, El Pensamiento Espanol sin 
sugecion a ningun hombre politico, con entera independencia de accion y 
sometido unicamente a la Santa Sede. ' ' 

i9i Goy, op. cit., num. 193, p. 508. 



60 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

self and brother, the others having withdrawn. 192 Gabino Tejado, 
Gonzalez Pedroso and Garrido, contributed to the paper at its 
inception, but Villoslada was its life and soul throughout. 193 

The enunciation of the principles of the paper and the deep 
catholic convictions of our author may be inferred from the 
following : 

Abrid la historia de Espana, consultad las tradiciones, interrogad a 
los Reyes, a los nobles, al pueblo, |,a que se debe nuestro engrandecimiento 
en los antiguos tiempos, a que nuestra vergonzosa decadencia en los pre- 
sentes? ^Cual es el alma de esta Nacion, la parte eseneial de su existencia, 
el rasgo distintivo de su caracter, el espiritu de su civilizacion, el secreto 
de esos magnificos arranques con que sorprende de improviso cuando mas 
abatida y postrada se la contempla? Es el catolicismo en cuyas aguas 
vivas estan amasados sus Reyes, su pueblo, su historia, sus tradiciones, 
su literatura y sus artes. ■ Es el catolicismo, al cual es la Nacion deudora 
de su Monarquia templada. De el han brotado el amor del pueblo a sus 
Reyes, representantes de sus sentimientos profundamente religiosos, y 
el amor de los Reyes a su pueblo, manifestado en la defensa de la 
Religion, que es su libertad y su independencia. El es el cauce por donde 
corren estos dos torrentes de amor sin estorbarse en su curso; el corazon 
de donde sale y adonde vuelve toda la sangre de este gran cuerpo social. 
Con el pensamiento catolico nos distinguimos de todas las naciones de 
Europa, sin el seremos borrados del mapa europeo. Vengan a nosotros, 
vengan de todas partes la civilizacion y el progreso, con tal de que, al 
entrar en este grande horno donde arde el espiritu espanol, la civilizacion 
extrana se derrita y se convierta en civilizacion espanola, y el progreso de 
Francia, de Inglaterra, de Alemania y del orbe entero, se refundan en 
el progreso espanol, es decir, en el progreso catolico. Quien profesa estos 
principios firmisimos, infalibles &no tiene la seguridad del acierto? 
Pero entonces, lo que tratais de llevar a cabo, no tiene de periodico mas 
que el nombre. Esta objecion es seria, y tan seria, que al oirla nos con- 
tentamos con encogernos de hombros. 191 

The interest of the above lies of course in the candid expres- 
sions of his deeply rooted catholic convictions. "Whatever Villos- 
lada may have thought of the worth of public admiration as to 



192 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin : ' ' A los pocos 
anos de su fundacion se retiraron los compafieros que le ayudaban, y quedo 
tinico propietario y director." 

193 Ibid.: "En este periodico puso todo su corazon y su vida. Escribio 
en el magnificos articulos doctrinales, llenos de filosofia y teologia, combatio 
con gran fuego los errores modernos y merecio grandisimos elogios de los 
Prelados y de Pio IX. ' ' 

194 Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 213. 



FBANCISCO NAVAEEO VILLOSLADA 61 

his literary achievement, he frankly wrote in defense of the 
catholic cause, never aiming at popularity by what he considered 
unworthy means. The success of his two novels dona Blanca de 
Navarra and dona Urraca de Castilla had been assured years 
before, they had been translated at that period into different 
languages, and had gone through several editions. 195 He had no 
reason to feel forlorn, for from the beginning, the sale of his 
novels was some consolation, although to what extent the pesetejas 
with which he had landed in Madrid had been converted into 
sendos pesos duros we do not know. However this may be, ignor- 
ing financial or literary success, we find him writing in el Pensa- 
miento Espanol 19Q with a zest only comparable to his convictions 
of the value of the Catholic Church in the past and the expression 
of his hopes for a continuance of that influence. Whether he 
foresaw, even dimly, that this very zest would deprive him in 
later life of the gratification of receiving the praise to which he 
was entitled when he wrote his greatest historical novel, Amaya, 
the very embodiment of a life's unsatisfied longing, we can 
scarcely conjecture. 

The expression of his creed, which apparently he had planned 
long since to express through a strictly catholic medium, exhibits 
a determination as boundless as his imagination, irrespective of 
consequences. 197 

The observations of Villoslada in the many and various 
spheres of knowledge are significant in that they explain his 
detestation of the liberalistic views which were gradually eating 
to the heart of the Spanish kingdom, and contaminating, as he 
said, the youth of the land. All his remarks bear a very definite 
relation to this tendency, and applying full force to what he con- 
sidered essential, with emphasis on his preoccupation with the 
political phase and its bearing, he seems to have overlooked that 



195 See footnote 143. 

196 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 13 : l ' . . . de cuyas columnas salian 
vibrando las flechas del raciocinio y de la satira disparadas por manos tan 
habiles como las de Navarro Villoslada, Gabino Tejado y E. Gonzalez 
Pedroso. ' ' 

197 Goy, op. cit., num. 187, p. 213. 



62 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

he had a literary reputation to uphold. When elected diputado 
he fought with his usual tenacity the changes in governmental 
procedure which might lend further impetus to liberalism; he 
fought against parliamentarianism, the invention of liberalism. 
Position in life he did not consider when his convictions spurred 
him to action. An angered god spoke, but Villoslada refusing to 
bend his knee, was willing to sacrifice his literary fame and coveted 
position at the altar of conviction. Goy says : " El dios desairado 
le pago con la perdida de los empleos lucrativos, y con el estu- 
diado e inicuo silencio de que rodeo su reputacion literaria. " 198 

It had been the hope of the writer to secure el Pensamiento 
Espaiiol with a view of determining just to what extent Villos- 
lada had defended the catholic cause in Spain, the scope of his 
criticism, the effectiveness of his campaign, that should have so 
influenced public opinion as to deny a man the justice to which 
his literary achievement entitled him. The way that Blanco 
Garcia looks at the matter would seem to suggest that the proba- 
bilities of failure to receive recognition by the public who had 
acclaimed his two earlier novels a success, was profoundly affected 
by the activity of Villoslada in defense of Pius IX and the 
catholic cause. Villoslada, untainted by commercialism, un- 
hampered by criticism, forged ahead unmindful of consequences. 
We admire the catholicity of imagination which can be so stimu- 
lated by convictions that while standing upon the dizzy pinnacle 
of achievement ignores the temperamental, thin-skinned phil- 
osophy of that same public. 

The unalloyed enjoyment which modern unprejudiced re- 
search may discover of pure gold in nineteenth-century literature, 
willing to concede that there must be a significant antithesis be- 
tween the -point of view of Villoslada as a literary figure and 
Villoslada, the defender of Catholicism, will in part compensate 
for the injustice done. Blanco Garcia says : 199 

Cuando aparecio, [Amaya] llegaba a su apogeo la novela espanola en 
brazos de Galdos j Pereda; pero, aunque sonroje el decirlo, la Amaya 



198 Ibid., num. 194, p. 563. 

199 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 274. 



FRANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 63 

solo encontro lectores y elogios en una parte del publico, formada en su 
inmensa mayoria por los correligionarios del alitor. Las revistas que 
disertaban largo y tendido sobre Gloria y La familia de Leon Boch, sobre 
Salivilla y El copo de nieve, ni siquiera se dignaron saludar la obra en que 
volvian a reverdeeer los lauros de nuestro primer novelista historico. Cierto 
que llegaba a deshora, que el genero estaba soberanamente desacreditado, 
y que le sustituian otros nuevos mas en harmonia con las exigencias de 
la epoca; pero idonde estd la decantada libertad en el arte, si en diez 6 
veinte afios se eonvierte en motivos de desden lo que fue objeto de entusiasmos 
ardientes? Fuera de que el no ser esta reserva universal da a entender 
que en ella intervinieron muchas razones, y no todas literarias, sino hijas 
en gran parte del fanatismo de seeta, que no queria rendir tributo de 
alabanza a un neocatolico tan resuelto, aunque de tanto valer, y que, intro- 
duciendose descaradamente en el campo neutral de las letras, apartaba 
desdeuosa sus ojos del rayo de la verdadera inspiraeion. 

En bien contadas ocasiones fue mas ostensible la injusticia. 200 

There is much in coininon between Villoslada and Louis 
Veuillot, the Pere Duchesne of Catholicism, a convert to the 
catholic faith and its invincible defender. Veuillot 's cry of love 
of country and love of God was the same as that which Villos- 
lada employed at the beginning of his career, to which he later 
added love of the king. Veuillot in his style was more aggressive, 
more violent, more caustic at times, handling the scalpel of 
criticism so as to tear the flesh off his adversary. Blanco Garcia, 201 
speaking of Valbuena and comparing him to the Italian human- 
ists of the Renascence, Poggio, Valla and Fazzio, and more par- 
ticularly the representative of catolicismo laico f 'ranees, J. 
Barbey d'Aurevilly, places Veuillot as superior to them all, "cuya 
personalidad esta mucho mas encumbrada." Villoslada, with his 
equilibrium, coolness and equanimity, was also a fighter, but 
ameliorated somewhat the asperity of criticism by the employ- 
ment of subtle argumentation rather than ironical incisiveness. 
L'Univers said el Pensamiento Espafwl formed the outposts of 
the catholic faith at that period. Veuillot and Villoslada were 
both fighters who combated their enemies with indomitable 
tenacity. 

Veuillot upon inquiring what were the ideals and purposes 



200 The italics are inserted by the writer. 
2oi Blanco Garcia, II, 263ff. 



64 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

of el Pensamiento Espanol, after a few numbers had been pub- 
lished, Vildosola, 202 the eminent traditionalist exponent, replied: 
"El Pensamiento Espanol es un periodico catolico que tendra 
que ser un periodico carlista. Forman su redaccion, entre otros, 
Villoslada, persona de cuyo valer, superior a su reputacion, que 
es muy grande, debe esperar mucho la causa de la Iglesia y de 
Espaila." 203 

He vigorously opposed through the columns of el Pensamiento 
Espanol what he considered the gross injustice to Pius IX, when 
Spain accepting the judgment of the Duke of Tetuan ".que nada 
tiene que ver nuestra Patria con la Ciudad Eterna," refused in 
1860 to intervene in the disputes which arose between Victor 
Emmanuel and the Vatican, and which continued until 1870 
when the union of Italy was accomplished. 204 He says : 

Recibamos tan triste nueva como los cristianos deben recibir las 
grandes calamidades, como reciben el colera morbo, el hambre, las guerras, 
con humilde y contrito corazon. Es un azote que se levanta en castigo de 
nuestras culpas. Lo merecemos. En pleno siglo XIX hemos dejado que 
la Revolucion conquiste reinos extranos, si no en la barbara grandeza 
de Atila, con la infernal astucia de Maquiavelo: hemos aceptado el 
principio de no intervention, cuandO este sistema podia perjudicar a la 
causa del derecho de la Iglesia, y hemos dejado intervenir a Inglaterra y 
Francia, cuando la intervencion redundaba en provecho exclusivo de los 
enemigos del Papa. El Vicario de Jesucristo apelo a los Gobiernos europeos 
y quedo desamparado. 

Fortified in his opinion, and as if desirous of bringing the 
Spanish people into quickened and eager action, by a close 
scrutiny of their conscience, he continues : 

Ponga cada cual la mano sobre su corazon, y deje hablar a su propia 
conciencia. jDichoso el, si esta le dicta que ha orado bastante, que ha 
socorrido con larga mano a su padre, que no ha cedido a respetos 

202 Ossorio y Bernard, op. tit., p. 478: "Escritor tradicionalista, re- 
dactor que fue de La Esperanza, y director mas tarde de La 'Regeneration 
(1860) Altar y Trono (1869) y La Fe (1890). En este ultimo periodico 
rifio Vildosola continuas batallas por la pureza del dogma carlista, hasta 
que premiado con augustas ingratitudes, renuncio al periodismo y se retiro a 
la vida privada, falleciendo en Bilbao en 31 de Diciembre de 1893. Fue 
colaborador de La Ilustracion Catolica." 

203 Goy, op. tit., num. 193, p. 507. 

204 See Stillman, The Union of Italy; Zeller, Pie IX et Victor Em- 
manuel; Bianchi, Storia documentata della diplomazia Europea in Italia, 
quoted in Stephens, Syllabus on Modern European History, p. 265. 



FBANCISCO NAVABBO VILLOSLADA 65 

humanos! . . . Mucho recelamos que algunos que se llaman buenos, 
tengan que acusarse a si propios de su silencio ante la garruleria revo- 
lucionaria de su contemporizacion eon la impiedad, de su miedo y cobardia 
ante la audacia matonesca de los enemigos de la Santa Sede! ... El 
paso que acaba de dar el Gobierno es quiza el reactivo que la Espafia 
catoliea necesitaba para salir de su apatia, para mostrarse cual es, y 
confundir, con solo mostrarse, a la insignificante minoria que durante el 
letargo de la nacion la ha tenido avasallada. Tenemos ya una bandera 
catoliea que seguir, bandera que es ley para todos los hijos de la Iglesia, 
y que ademas ha sido reconocida y aclamada por Espafia. Esta bandera 
es el Syllabus. 20 ^ Sostener la afirmacion opuesta a todas esas negaciones, 
he aqui nuestro deber, he aqui un punto en el cual no puede haber diver- 
gencia entre los verdaderos catolicos. . . . Considerarnos siempre como 
nacion catoliea; pero no olividar nunca que en esta nacion los sentimientos 
catolicos son frecuentemente ultrajados por audaces minorias. 206 

Pius IX, deeply appreciative of the sentiments expressed 
through the columns of el Pensamiento Espanol and conscious 
of the sympathetic devotion of Villoslada to his cause, forwarded 
to our author and his colleagues a letter expressing his gratitude, 
which Villoslada jealously guarded to the end of his life. 207 

About August 7, 1865, prior to the general elections, Villos- 
lada was in Viana, and under the title of los Catolicos y las 
elecciones wrote some articles wherein among other things he dis- 
cussed the questions: $Es licit o a un catolico tomar hoy parte 



205 Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1814, pp. 700ff . : ' ' The 
Syllabus, (catalogue)" of the principal errors of our times, set forth in 
consistorial addresses, encyclicals, and other apostolical letters of Pope 
Pius IX, "reproduced in a summary form all the doctrines condemned by 
him. They are numbered, from I to LXXX, and grouped in logical order, 
beginning with errors of theory under the following titles: I. Pantheism, 
naturalism, and absolute rationalism. II. Moderate rationalism. These are 
philosophic opinions. III. Indifferentism, latitudinarianism. This is the 
theory of liberty of conscience. IV. Socialism, communism, Bible societies, 
Clerico-Liberals. V. Errors concerning the Church and its rights. These are 
the theory of clerical subordination to the lay power, and the practice of 
toleration. VI. Errors concerning civil society considered either by itself 
or in its relations with the Church. These are the theory of the state 's right 
to interfere in ecclesiastical affairs (exequatur, recursus ab abusu, semi- 
naries, religious vows, congregations) and the theory of lay education. VII. 
Errors concerning natural and Christian morality. These are the theory of 
lay morality, the value of accomplished fact, the principle of non-interven- 
tion. VIII. Errors concerning Christian marriage. These are the civil mar- 
riage and divorce. IX. Errors concerning the temporal power of the Pope. 
These relate to the destruction of the temporal power. X. Errors which 
relate to modern liberalism." 

206 Goy, op. cit., num. 190, pp. 380ff. 

207 Ibid. ; Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. 



66 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

en unas elecciones a Cortes? A mas de licito $es ooligatorio este 
act of To both these questions he found answers in the affirma- 
tive. It was an appeal to Catholics to take part in the elections, 
send their deputies to the Cortes, and repeal the action of 1860 
in regard to Spain's position with reference to Pius IX and 
Victor Emmanuel. 208 

In 1861 Villoslada conducted a vigorous campaign against 
liberalism in its application to the educational system in Spain. 
This campaign was directed not only against the books used by 
the government in their schools, which reflected against the faith, 
but also against the teachers and professors who through their 
instruction were accused of perverting the youth of the land. It 
was the battle against the textos vivos. Differences of opinion at 
once arose. It was a subject wherein cause and effect were hard 
to weigh and it would appear that even within the catholic 
ranks the line of distinction was not always well defined, for we 
find la Epoca and el Diario Espanol as the most active opponents 
to el Pensamiento Espanol in this issue. Villoslada 's attack was 
early directed against the universities whose texts were considered 
to be filled with errors against the Catholic Church. It is im- 
possible to attempt to go into this matter of the textos vivos at 
length. The writings of Villoslada are many and involved, but 
suffice to say that Villoslada proved himself as Goy says: "Ad- 
mirable polemista y filosofo profundo y critico nada vulgar ni 
adocenado. " He says further: ". . . salio Villoslada a esta 
palestra, y en ella se acredio de teologo y dialectico de los de la 
vieja estirpe espanola. " In answer to the arguments advanced 
by la Epoca and el Diario Espanol, the writer finds record of 
nineteen articles which Villoslada published against the lioros 
de texto which were approved by Royal Order of 1861 and 1862, 
and nine other articles, citing the names of catedrdticos in- 
volved. 209 

Because of his opposition to the government he was frequently 
approached with bribes to print what others dictated. To all 



208 Goy, op. cit., num. 190, p. 382. 

209 loid., num. 193, pp. 510ff . ; num. 194, 



pp. 557ff. 



FBANCISCO XATAHEO VILLOSLADA 67 

such he characteristically replied : " . . . Me hacen ustedes caer 
en la cuenta de que soy periodista. y que esta profesion esta 
rebajada por muchisimas personas. Si yo escribo en este o en el 
otro sentido. es porque lo siento asi. es porque lo creo asi, y 
haciendo esto creo ir por el earnino recto: pero me creeria sobe- 
ranamente rebajado si aceptase dinero por ello." 210 

The extreme liberalism of the period was a natural reaction 
from the cruel despotism Spain had endured earlier in the cen- 
tury. The incompatibility existing between the church authori- 
ties and the lay authorities, a result of this liberalism, filled the 
period with bitter turmoil. Villoslada, an apostle of the church, 
vigorously opposed its principles, as we have already indicated. 
Gov says: "Tal odio al liberalismo profesaba Villoslada. que no 
hubo desman de este malhadado sistema que no denunciara desde 
las columnas de el Pensamiento . . ." ; 'E1 liberalismo.*'* says 
Villoslada, "'es el moderno sistema inventado para combatir por 
medio de la politica el reinado social de Jesucristo. ' ' Impelled 
by his detestation for what he considered the prejudicial liberal- 
istic tendencies of the period, he exclaims: 

Xo creemos que los revolucionarios franc eses, que fueron los primeros 
que a si mismos se dieron el nornbre de liberates, no creemos que los 
revolucionarios franceses, a pesar de su notoria erudicion pagana, tuvie- 
sen presente en 1790 que el dios Baco (el dios de los borrachos) se 
llamaba Liber, y liberales las fiestas bacanales que en su honor celebraba 
Eoma el dia 17 de Marzo. 211 

El Pensamiento Espanol had waged many bitter battles, but 
there were more to follow. In 1S67, D. Candido Xocedal desir- 
ing to enhance his political prestige through the columns of a 
periodical, conveyed his intention to Villoslada. Xocedal was a 
power politically and leader in the camara of the ultra moderate 
minority. He not merely indicated his desire to make el Pensa- 
miento Espanol a Xocedal organ, but practically demanded it. 
A few excerpts from the correspondence between these two men 
are quoted. They touch merely the fringe of the subject, but are 



210 Ibid., num. 193, p. 509. 
2ii Ibid., num. 194, p. 562. 



68 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

important because the discussion led to a firm determination on 
the part of the opposition to break Villoslada. 
Nocedal writes on the sixth of October: 

Apremiado por constantes excitaciones, me creo en la neeesidad de 
estar representado por un periodico. Tengo para fundarlo reunidos todos 
los medios materiales y morales, y con la ayuda de Dios pienso presen- 
tarme en la palestra a la mayor brevedad. 

Pienso que usted es amigo mio, que acaso en la prosperidad de el 
Pensamiento esta interesado el porvenir de sus hijas, a quienes de veras 
quiero. . . . 

Si el Pensamiento Espanol quiere ser conmigo y para mi lo que acabo de 
indicar, renunciare a fundar otro periodico de mi propiedad ... Si usted 
aceptara esta propuesta, no tendria que desdecirse de nada de lo que ha 
dicho en su larga y gloriosa vida, ni siquiera tendria que publicar esto, 
bastara conque en adelante usted estampara lo que yo enviase, y que 
oyera y siguiera mis consejos. 

Villoslada 's answer speaks for itself: 

i Antes que hacer esto, primero mataria cien Pensamientos! Si usted 
me dice que "no habia neeesidad de publicarse nada de esto; que bastara 
que usted y yo lo dejaramos convenido, " |,que consideracion es esa, Sr. 
Nocedal, para un hombre como yo? ;Yo lo sabria, y lo sdbria Dios! . . . 
Yo concurri a la fundacion de El Pensamiento Espanol para trabajar por 
la causa de Dios; para hacer la causa de Dios con menos indignidad por 
mi parte, renuncie las ventajas de mi antigua posicion oficial; renuncie 
los destinos ptiblicos, la posibilidad de un ministerio. Despues me quede 
enteramente solo con la propiedad del periodico, entre otras cosas, para 
pagar sus deudas, que son enormes. Las estoy pagando hace afios, y no 
las veo el fin. Si despues de todo esto tengo que sacrificar en parte a la 
honra de El Pensamiento Espanol el porvenir de mis hijas, sera un sacrificio 
mas, pero un sacrificio hecho a la causa de Dios. Si esta santa causa 
gana con que su periodico de usted mate a El Pensamiento Espanol jsea 
Dios bendito! y prospere sobre las ruinas de mi periodico su periodico 
de usted. Si a mis hijas les falta el porvenir de El Pensamiento, no les 
faltard mediante el Cielo, la honra de su padre.m 

The events that finally led to the suppression of el Pensa- 
miento Espanol are interesting, but before briefly discussing this 
phase, it may be added that Villoslada after lengthy correspond- 
ence, said at last "Me falta valor para contestar a tamailas exi- 
gencias." Nocedal founded la Constancia; it lasted but a short 
time. 



212 Ibid., num. 196, pp. 65ff. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 69 

Ruiz Zorrilla was ministro de foment o and opposed the 
catholic party. He decreed that the church be dispossessed of 
its archives, libraries, and other collections of science, art and 
literature in possession of religious organizations, and that they 
should revert to the government. The decree follows : 

La posesion nacional y el uso publico de los objetos de arte y de las 
preciosidades de todo genero que yacen hoy ocultas, cubiertas de polvo, 
envueltas en telarafias y comidas por el tiempo, es una necesidad revo- 
lucionaria imprescindible. La prudencia humana no dudara un momento 
en resolver esta cuestion, ajena a toda idea religiosa, a toda jurisdiction 
ecclesiastica, a toda practica piadosa. 

It was signed January 1, 1869, but was not made public until 
later. 

For the execution of this decree Zorrilla had had printed in- 
structions in circular form to be forwarded to all governors and 
alcaldes, naming the hour and day so that all might act at the 
same time. Everything was done secretly, but it happened that 
Zorrilla and Villoslada had a mutual friend who was a confec- 
tioner named Mendoza, a Navarrian. Mendoza learned of the 
decree and circular from Zorrilla and imparted the information 
to Villoslada as a secret. On that day, January 24, Villoslada 
had the paper composed, however in the copies for the provinces 
he added a short note calling attention to the decree and cir- 
cular. On the following day, Villoslada and his brother, D. 
Ciriaco together wrote and published an article entitled una 
Parodia in which they accused the minister of a desire to bur- 
lesque the celebrated decree of Carlos III whereby he had ordered 
that at the same hour in all the towns of Spain all Jesuits be 
seized and banished from the kingdom. On the morning of the 
twenty-sixth Villoslada and his brother were arrested because of 
the article, and held in prison for a period of forty days. This 
action of the government aroused the press of the nation. Peri- 
odicals like el Estandarte, la Epoca, el Siglo and el Impartial 
voiced their indignation and the necessity of the freedom of the 
press. 

The men whose work Villoslada had to combat in defense of 



70 LITEBARF AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

the catholic cause represented widely different types. In speak- 
ing of Villoslada's relations with his contemporary opponents, 
we must remember his ardent desire to make tangible those reali- 
ties of life which he considered greater than his very life. He 
laid stress on the merit of combating through the columns of his 
paper what he considered prejudicial to the nation, and his dictum 
even from the solitude of his cell in Saladero, when requested 
by Zorrilla to divulge the informer of the decree, was: "Los 
hijos de nuestro padre sabrian morir mil y mil veces antes de 
dejar de ser lo que han sido y lo que son: honrados caba- 
lleros." 213 

On March 11, 1869, Villoslada came out of the prison of Sala- 
dero. 214 Pursued by the revolutionists of 1869, he was compelled 
to emigrate to France in 1870 ; while there he was summoned 
by Don Carlos to take charge of his political affairs. He was 
in the company of Don Carlos when they undertook a journey 
through Austria, and while in Vienna Villoslada suffered a fall, 
which so injured his leg that for five months he was confined in 
the palace of the Duke of Modena, uncle of Don Carlos, receiv- 
ing every attention from those in the palace, including Henry V 
of France, and others who desired that he remain at the side of 
the Pretender. Having recovered from his injury he took leave 
of Don Carlos in Switzerland, and came to the French frontier, 
broken down in health. 215 

Villoslada, who had so effectively supported the Carlist cause 
through the columns of el Pensamiento Espafiol, el Nuevo Con- 



213 ibid., num. 197, pp. 112ff . 

214 Ibid., num. 199, p. 206. 

215 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "Perseguido 
por los revolucionarios del 69 tuvo que emigrar a Francia el afio 70 y estando 
alia lo llamo Don Carlos de Borbon (Carlos VII) para que se pusiese al 
frente de sus asuntos politicos. En su compafiia estaba cuando hicieron 
un viaje por Austria y alia tuvo la desgracia de resbalar en el hielo y rom- 
perse una pierna. Cinco meses tuvo que estar en cama en Viena en el 
palacio del Duque soberano de Modena, tio de D. Carlos recibiendo grandes 
pruebas de estimacion de toda su familia, incluyendo a los Sres. Condes 
de Chambord, 6 sea Enrique V de Francia y otros persona jes que tenian 
gran interes en que permaneciese al lado de su sobrino ; . pero una vez que 
pudo emprender el viaje de vuelta se despidio en Suiza de Don Carlos y se 
vino a la frontera francesa con la salud quebrantadisima. ' ' 



FBANCISCO NJVARBO VILLOSLADA 71 

stantino, Conspiration, Lo que se va y lo que se Viene, Union, el 
Buen Principe and la Carta del Bey, was adequately equipped to 
serve the Pretender. 216 He undoubtedly had first hand knowl- 
edge and very definite opinions. When he took leave of the Pre- 
tender he requested that titles previously conferred upon him be 
revoked. He then left for San Juan de Luz to spend the summer 
with his daughters, where he remained until the spring of the fol- 
lowing year, during which time he was interned in France by 
order of the French government. He planned to escape but got 
no farther than Bayona where he received the news that both 
Barcelona and Pamplona had elected him senator, without the 
slightest solicitation on his part. 217 Pamplona later annulled the 
election through the efforts of the opposition, but the constancy 
of Barcelona permitted his safe return to Madrid. 

According to the records in el Diario de las sesiones, Villos- 
lada took no active part. His attitude towards discussions in 
which he could see no practical results bored him. On the third 
of June, 1871, he presented himself before the senate in the 
Cortes called by Amadeo, the son of the ex-communicated king, 
in support of the minority. Disgusted with the methods and 
arguments of the majority, it is doubtful whether he ever again 
claimed the floor. Villoslada came to request the reestablishment 
of that constitution which he and his followers believed incapable 
of reformation. His discourse is not available to the writer at 
present, but the general critical view is sketched by Goy as "una 
pieza oratorio modelo, rebosante de vida, de sinceridad y de 
entusiasmo. ' ' 218 

Villoslada, if he must choose between a journalistic life and 
a political life in parliament, preferred the former, and he turned 
his attention to el Pensamiento Espanol. It was at this time that 
Don Carlos influenced by Arjona, 219 his secretary, assumed a 



216 Goy, op. tit., num. 199, p. 206. 

217 Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin: "El ano 1871 
f ue elegido senador y con ese motivo volvio a Madrid. ' ' 

218 Goy, op. tit., num. 201, p. 307. 

219 A few excerpts from Arjona 's letters may be of interest. Ibid., 
p. 309: "Tengan todos los carlistas la seguridad de que Su Magestad ve 



72 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

dictatorial program opposed by such journalists and strong 
supporters as Canga-Arguelles, 220 Aparisi, 221 Gabino Tejado 222 
and Villoslada. These men desirous of lending influence to their 
solicitude thus addressed the youthful Pretender : 

"No ha de ignorar que estamos hablando a Vuestra Magestad 
como nuestros padres hablaron en muchas ocasiones con Reyes 
potentisimos de Espana, y aun no llegamos al punto de libertad 
cristiana que ellos usaron. De seguir las cosas como van, la 
causa carlista, humanamente hablando, esta peridida. ' ' But Don 
Carlos, heedless of observations and counsels, "ostentatious and 
pleasure-loving," and still a young man of twenty-three, lent a 
willing ear to adulation, and by order of the Duke of Madrid, 
executed by his secretary, Arjona, called in Madrid a meeting 
of the press composed of the directors of the Carlist periodicals of 
the capital, and at the head was placed Nocedal. Whether 
Nocedal was the fit person to stand at the head of the catholic 
monarchical party, as also at the head of the directorship of 
la Junta de la Prensa, the writer is in no position to state in this 
rapid survey. However this may be, Villoslada saw fit to attend 
a few of these juntas at the home of Nocedal, but his opinion 
then as before was that the directorship of the press should not 
be entrusted to a single individual, this being contrary to the 
rights of mankind ("derecho de propiedad"). Villoslada rea- 
soned: "Los espafioles, Sefior, no nacieron para ser esclavos; 



solo, tan claro, como todos juntos." "La verdadera doctrina monarquica 
entrana la obediencia . . . que rechaza toda discusion de los actos sobe- 
ranos, no admite duda soore la perfecta equidad de sus determinaciones. 
Las palabras que vienen del Rey, deben acatarse no mas, y hasta alabarlas 
f uera petulancia. ' ' 

220 Ossorio y Bernard, op. cit., p. 68: "Fue director durante largos 
anos del diario La Begeneracion, cuya lema, que logro verdadera celebridad, 
decia asl: 'Catolico antes que politico; politico en tanto que la politica 
conduzca al triunf o practico del catolicismo. ' ' ' 

221 Garcia, op. cit., II, 361ff.; Goy, op. cit., num. 216, p. 510. 
Aparisi was cruelly assaulted and killed by thieves while on his way to the 
opera in 1872. Meyerbeer's Huguenots was being presented. The death of 
his friend impressed Villoslada so deeply that he never permitted himself 
to attend the theater thereafter. He explained: "Para que Dios no me 
coja en ese camino, no volvere mas al teatro. " He used to say of the death 
of Aparisi : " j Morir, morir de repente, y yendo a presenciar una opera 
en que se hace la apologia de la herejia! " 

222 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 351, 428; II, 254, 323, 356. 



FEANCISCO NAVAEEO VILLOSLADA 73 

contra esto protestan todos los siglos desde Viriato hasta Balan- 
zategui." Thence followed the violence of debate between el 
Pensamiento Espanol and la Regeneration on the one side and 
la Reconquista and la Esperanza on the other. Arjona, as if 
further to try the patience of Villoslada, forwarded a letter of 
congratulation in the name of Don Carlos to la Reconquista and 
la Esperanza. Thereupon Villoslada and Canga-Argiielles di- 
rected a telegram to Don Carlos asking why they had failed to 
acknowledge their periodistic campaigns. The reply came 
through Nocedal. On the fifteenth of March, 1872, Villoslada 
definitely withdrew from el Pensamiento Espanol, preferring 
rather to submerge himself than to prove disloyal to the Pre- 
tender. Plainly did Villoslada see that he had either to oppose 
Don Carlos in his proposed censorship or abandon his activity 
in the journalistic field. He chose the latter. 223 

With the third Carlist war raging in the north, we must 
again take up our author. Secretary Arjona, by order of the 
Pretender, had said : "La verdadera doctrina monarquica . . . 
no admite ni la duda siquiera sobre la perfecta equidad de las 
determinaciones del Rey." Aparisi, from Madrid, was an ex- 
ponent of the following: "Esa, Senor, no es la verdadera doc- 
trina monarquica; eso, Senor, no se ha dicho jamas, ni se ha 
aprobado en ninguna republica cristiana ; esas cosas, Senor, solo 
pueden decirse de Dios." Aparisi continued: "Vuestra Majes- 
tad siempre quiso ser Rey cristiano, y no Cesar y nosotros, pen- 
sando y sintiendo como V. M. decimos siempre : ' Venga el Rey 
cristiano y sea bendito: el Cesar, jamas/ " 

Thus stood the Carlist cause in the year 1872. Further light 

is shed by Villoslada 's words in this matter : 

Desde Mayo aca, por arte de no sabemos quien, se esta verificando en 
la gobernacion del partido carlista una transformacion dolorosa, que 
comienza aliora a hacerse publica en la doctrina, y que viene hace tiempo 
experimentandose en la conducta. La Monarquia cristiana se retira, y se 
abre paso al cesarismo ! . . . En armonia con esa doctrina cesariana que 
ha comenzado a salir a luz, pero que ha tiempo esta germinando y obrando 
en algunos, ha sido la conducta seguida por los consejeros de V. M., 



223 Goy, op. cit., num. 201, pp. 309ff. 



74 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

apareciendo muy a las claras el ningun respeto con que se ha tratado a 
los hombres, faltandose para con muchos a justas atenciones, que fueron 
muy .conocidas y muy guardadas en los buenos tiempos de la Monarquia 
espanola. 224 

Villoslada, invariably his own best critic, with his opinions 
about his own work in the Carlist cause well grounded, and 
doubtless surprised, not anticipating neglect or censure on the 
part of the Pretender, proves by his resignation his boundless 
loyalty and prudence. Without further opposition he permits 
Nocedal, since Don Carlos thus desired, to assume the dictator- 
ship unhampered. 

But the Carlist juntas all over Spain, and especially in Cataluria, were 
straining in the leash, and Gonzales Brabo, who had now deserted Isabel, 
was urging the Pretender on to war. Candido Nocedal, the leader of the 
Carlists in the Cortes, remonstrated in vain against an appeal to arms. 
"Only let us, who hold the balance," he said, "overthrow Amadeo, and 
the extravagancies of the Eed Eepublicans will soon lead all Spaniards 
to welcome Don Carlos as a savior of society." 

This difference of opinion caused long and bitter contention 
in the Carlist ranks, and the Pretender himself wavered from day 
to day, until at length his hand was forced by the war part}^ 
On April 14, 1872, he wrote from Geneva to his commander-in- 
chief, Eada: 

At length the solemn moment has arrived. Good Spaniards are call- 
ing for their legitimate King, and the King cannot turn a deaf ear to the 
summons of his country. I order a general rising all over Spain for the 
21st instant, to the cry of "Down with the foreigner! Long live Spain! 
Carlos". Nocedal protested, and resigned. The militant Carlists were 
ready to fight for their King and fueros. ' ' God, Fatherland, and King ! ' ' 
was the battle cry of Don Carlos as he crossed the frontier on foot almost 
alone on May 2, 1872. The Navarrese acclaimed the Pretender as their 
heaven-sent sovereign. 22 ^ 

El Pens ami ento Espanol after Villoslada 's resignation continued 
its existence for two years, or until the famous coup d'etat of 
Pavia when it was suppressed. 226 It arose again with the title of 



22 * Ibid., num. 202, pp. 361ff. 

22 s Hume, Modern Spain, pp. 503ff. 

22 eGoy, op. cit., num. 202, p. 365: Letter of dona Petra Navarro 
Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917: "El 73 estallo otra ves la guerra 
civil y el Gobierno suprimio El Pensamiento Espanol. ' ' 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 75 

el Mundo continuing only to its fiftieth number. Villoslada 's 

parting through the columns of el Pensamiento Espafiol is as 

follows : 

El dia en que podamos o debamos escribir en El Pensamiento, o escribi- 
remos bajo nuestra firma, o lo anunciaremos con franqueza. Ese dia 
llegara, y llegara quiza muy pronto. |,C6mo ha de venir? No lo sabemos. 
Puede traerlo el peligro, puede traerlo el amor. Nosotros esperamos en 
nuestro Eey lo traiga el amor, y no el peligro. . . . Ahora si el llama- 
miento a la vida publica viniese en alas del triunfo y de la gloria, 
entonces si que no responderiamos a el. 227 

Abandoning his periodical, Villoslada retired to the peaceful 
solitude of Viana where for fourteen years not a single political 
article came from his pen. Here, as we have noted elsewhere, 
he leisurely worked and builded out of the ancient ruins of Basque 
tradition, with which he was so familiar, a structure of simple 
symmetry and grace combined with rare strength and beauty. 
It is the greatest of his achievements ; it seems to mark the con- 
summation of his aspirations. His Amaya written at this time is 
being considered more and more a fitting climax to some fifty 
years of endeavor in the romantic novel in Spain. Blanco Garcia 
says of this novel : 

. . . digamos eon seguridad que el fondo de la Amaya, y lo mismo 
los caracteres, el objeto y los episodios, son rigurosamente epicos por su 
desusada grandeza y su aspecto primitive Se respira alii un aire de 
sencillez ingenua, patriarcal y homerica; hay en algunos cuadros no se 
que inimitable verdad, emanada directamente de la naturaleza virgen, sin 
las alteraciones introducidas por los refinamientos de las sociedades 
adultas, y otras veces sentimos el estruendo de las instituciones que caen 
y el conflicto de ideas con ideas, y ejercitos con ejercitos, 6 presenciamos 
el ocaso de una civilizacion decrepita y el nacimiento de otra formada 
sobre sus ruinas por la fe y el patriotismo. 228 

Meanwhile Don Carlos had continued faithful to Nocedal 
regardless of the opposition of the true leaders and supporters 
of his party. On the fourth of May, 1879, such men as Orgaz, 
Canga-Argiielles, Galindo de Vera, Suarez Bravo and others 



227 Goy, op. cit., num. 202, p. 365. 

228 Blanco Garcia, II, 275. Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada 
de Sendin, March 23, 1917: "Tambien escribio por esa epoca muchos arti- 
culos literarios et seq." 



76 LITERABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

addressed a plan of action tending to give to the Carlist party 
new life. They advocated much that Yilloslada had formerly stood 
for, yet Nocedal opposed it then and did so now with the support 
of the Pretender. Many then deserted the party and the cause. 
La Union Catolica was founded early in 1881. Besides the men 
noted above Leon Carbonero y Sol, el Conde de Guaqui, el 
Marques de Mirabel and D. Alejandro Pidal were among those 
forming the Union. Two journals were started, la Union and 
el Fenix. This organization developed much opposition, par- 
ticularly toward the church. 229 Much difference of opinion pre- 
vailed which divided the best thinkers of Spain. Blanco Garcia, 
speaking of el Circulo de la Juventud Catolica, where were found 
Pidal and Menendez Pelayo side by side with Nocedal and 
Navarro Villoslada, Selgas and Liniers, Tamayo and Fernandez- 
Guerra side by side with Gabino Tejado, Antonio de Valbuena, 
Valentin Gomez and Francisco Sanchez de Castro, says: "al 
constituirse la Union Catolica se fracciono este gran nucleo de 
fuerzas, convirtiendose la aneja cuestion dinastica en manzana de 
discordia y pretexto para acerbas luchas de caracter personal. ' ' 230 
Don Carlos de Borbon saw little to his advantage in this division 
of the catholic party, and Nocedal in the meantime having died, 
Don Carlos in 1885 summoned Yilloslada to his aid a second 
time and Villoslada accepted. 231 

Endeavoring to prevent this rupture in the catholic press, 
Villoslada wrote a letter which was published in la Fe on the 
twelfth of March, 1886, in which he made a plea for harmony 
and that the teachings of the church be upheld. The letter 
follows : 

Sres. Directores de La Fe. 

Muy senores mios y amigos de mi mas distinguida consideracion: Perio- 
dista de toda mi vida, catorce o quince anos hace que no he publicado ni 



229 Goy, op. cit., num. 203, pp. 403ff. 

230 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., II, 322. 

231 Goy, op. cit., num. 203, pp. 402, 409 ; num. 206, pp. 545ff. Letter 
of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin, March 23, 1917: "Volvio 
otra vez Don Carlos en 1885 a insistir en hacerle su representante en 
Madrid y la fuerza de las circunstancias hizo que por.algun tiempo lo fuese 
et seq. ' ' 



FBANCISCO NAVAEBO V1LL0SLADA 77 

escrito un solo articulo de politica; y si hoy me decido a romper el 
silencio, es porque en conciencia me creo obligado a ello. 

De poco tiempo aca, no tengo por que ocultarlo, el Sr. Duque de Madrid 
me ha dispensado la insigne honra de consultarme acerca de algunas 
cuestiones, que ha resuelto publicamente, con el tino, prudeneia y sabi- 
duria que en el son habituales. Con este motivo he creido de mi deber 
indicarle algo de las tendencias a mi juicio funestisimas que se han mani- 
festado en varios periodicos de provincias, por otra parte excelentes, 
respecto de los Sres. Obispos. 

Ruego encarecidamente a los periodicos a que aludo, que cesen por 
completo en su actitud, y a todos los tradicionalistas que no se presenten 
a ningun acto, que directa o indirectamente tienda a perturbar la buena 
armonia, la ciega sumision en que siempre ha vivido la comunion catolica 
monarquica con la Iglesia, y, por consiguiente, con los sucesores de los 
Apostoles. 

Eso de retirarse a las trincheras de la politica para substraerse a la 
accion episcopal, ademas de ser intitil y aun contraproducente, implica 
una especie o concepto erroneo,.cual es el suponer que la politica, hija de 
la moral, no cae bajo la jurisdiccion y magisterio de la Iglesia. La 
Iglesia es maestra en el orden politico, con derecho y mision para pres- 
cribir y sefialar los deberes de ese orden, y para juzgar a los que en el 
tomen alguna parte. Es cierto que a la Iglesia no pertenece la accion 
politica: pero si la ensenanza y el juicio respecto de los que ejercitan esa 
accion; y por lo tanto, respecto de los que en ella toman alguna parte, 
aunque solo sea aconsejado o-persuadiendo en la prensa, que se obre o 
se deje de obrar de este o aquel modo. No es posible evadirse de esa 
jurisdiccion y magisterio, y por lo tanto, es preciso bajar humildemente 
la cabeza ante los maestros de la verdad, base y raiz de toda santa 
intransigencia. Si en vez de esto, se insinuan censuras a los Prelados, 
tomando, por decirlo asi, la ofensiva, y juzgando sus documentos epis- 
copales en que ellos ensenan y juzgan o determinan el modo como se 
proponen juzgar, es, en mi humilde opinion, indudablemente que se pro- 
cede erradamente. 2 32 

The press furiously launched its attack on Villoslada, accusing 
him of being a deserter to their cause. He held his ground, never 
permitting censure against the priests in public or in private 
without coming to their defense. He fought hard, but the influ- 
ences he opposed were too deeply intrenched. Then it was that 
this veteran of Catholicism and of a truly Christian political life 
retired, as he himself says, to the home of politicos invdlidos. He 
spent his last years with one of his daughters, dona Blanca, in 
the home wherein he was born. Here he remained until his death, 



232 Ibid., ntim. 206, pp. 546, 547. 



78 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

August 29, 1895. 233 Up to the last his interest in the political 
affairs of his beloved Spain manifested itself. Four hours before 
he died he turned to his daughters and said : ' ' Hace cinco dias 
que no me habeis leido telegramas de la guerra de Cuba. ' ' The 
Cuban question was becoming acute; the meeting of the first 
Constituent Cuban Assembly and the formal proclamation of the 
Cuban Republic was but fifteen days off. It seemed to be the 
duty of a politico invdlido to keep abreast of the times. 

Much remains to be said of our author. The barest outlines 
have been sketched. "What wealth of material would be disclosed 
by a serious study! Into what intricate, yet picturesque, paths 
such a study would lead. Literature, history, religion, phil- 
osophy, politics, each in its various phases, must be delved into 
to understand the creative force of Villoslada. It has been no 
small satisfaction to the writer of these pages to have been able 
to record something, little though it has been, of the man who 
exclaimed amid the stress of public life : "No quiero tener mas 
que un anhelo. Ser estimado en poco, ser despreciado, ser per- 
seguido, porque de los perseguidos y despreciados en la tierra es 
elreino del Cielo." 234 



233 Ibid., num. 216, p. 513. Letter of dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de 
Sendin: "Harto de disgustos j quebrantadisimo de salud, renuncio ese 
cargo y se retiro por completo a la vida privada. Para conseguirlo se retiro 
a Viana donde f allecio el 29 de Agosto de 1895. ' ' 

2 34Goy, op. cit., num. 208, pp. 66, 67. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 79 



APPENDIX I 
PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY OF VILLOSLADA 'S WORKS 

Novels 

El Remedio del amor. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, ser. 2, 
III (1841), 13, 29. 

El Antecristo. First appeared in el Espanol about the middle of 1845. 
Dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin describes it as a " novela 
de costumbres, ' ' and Goy refers to it as "la primera de sus celebres 
novelas. ' ' It was never completed beyond the first volume. 

La Princesa de Viana. Published in el Siglo Pintoresco, October, 1845- 
May, 1846, I, 153; II, 105. 

An historical novel of the fifteenth century. 

Dona Blanca de Navarra. Tercera edicion, correjida y aumentada, con 
una segunda parte, Madrid, Gaspar y Roig, 1848. 

Comprises la Princesa de Viana published in el Siglo Pintoresco, 
1845-46, revised and augmented, and a second part or sequel, Quince 
dias de reinado, appearing here for the first time. 

El Caballero sin nombre. Published in el Siglo Pintoresco; May-December, 
1847, III, 105, 277. 

An historical novel of the eleventh century. 

El Amor de una reina. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, Janu- 
ary 7, 14, 21, 1849, pp. 3, 11, 20. 

This is a condensed novel of his dona TJrraca de Castilla. 

Dona TJrraca de Castilla. Memorias de tres canonigos: Novela historica. 
Original edicion ilustrada, Madrid, Gaspar y Roig, 1849. 
An historical novel of the twelfth century. 

Historia de muchos Pepes. Published by his daughter after Villoslada 's 
death. She describes it as a "novelita de costumbres . . . da una 
idea exacta de la epoca del 40 al 50." It was completed but not 
in accordance with the extensive plan originally outlined. 

Amaya, 6 los Vascos en el siglo VIII. First appeared in la Ciencia cristiana, 
and later in book form, Madrid, 1879. 

An historical novel of the eighth century. 

There is another work, an historical novel of the fifteenth 
century, which Villoslada started while at Vitoria and about the 
same time he began to write his dona TJrraca de Castilla, which 
was left uncompleted, according to information received from 
dona Petra Navarro Villoslada de Sendin. She further adds: 
"Ha dejado novelas comenzadas e ineditas, con plan enteramente 
filosofico, etc." 



80 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Biography 

Garcia Moreno, presidente de la Bepublica del Ecuador; tr. from the French 
of Eev. Pere A. Berthe, de la Congregacion del Santisimo Bedentor. 
2 vols. Paris, 1892. 

Poems 

Una noche de Mascaras. Sonnet. Written about 1840. 

Panegirico espanol. Poesia en octavas heroieas. 1831. 

Versos a los seminaristas.~) „.,, „ ,. ,„„„« . ™„. 

, „ 7 . Written at Santiago (1829-1836). 

Egloga a Cacheiras. ?■■»,.. -, • xr-n i ^ t *• 

„ ,.,,,.-'. Mentioned m villoslada's diary. . 

Versos al Uo Nazano. J J 

Poem to the "Basilica compostelana." 1833. 

Bomance al Uo Nazario. 1836. 

Al Otono del 1833. Written in 1836. Published in Semanario Pintoresco 

Espanol, p. 39, January 31, 1841. 
Egloga, Felicio y Anfisio. 1836-1839. 
Silva a la Sociedad Filarmonica. 1837. 

Luchana. An epic poem. Written in 1837. Published in 1840. 
Poem celeorating the establishment of peace by the Treaty of Vergara, 

September 2, 1839. 
Poem eulogizing Espartero. September 24, 1839. 
A Jesus cruciflcado. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, p. Ill, 

April 4, 1841. 
Despues de la comunion. Written July, 1842. Quoted in el Perpetuo Socorro. 

pp. 471-72, October, 1913. 
Elegy to Espronceda. 1842? 
A Sonnet. Written in 1843. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, 

p. 16, January, 1846. 
La Profanacion del templo. Published in el Siglo Pintoresco, p. 21, April, 

1845. 
Poem to Calderon. Date? 
Versos a la Virgen Santisima. Written August 15, 1860. Quoted in 

el Perpetuo Socorro, p. 18, January, 1916. 
Ode to Pius IX. Written in 1867. Extracts quoted in el Perpetuo Socorro, 

pp. 119-21, March, 1916. 

Goy says of Villoslada in reference to his poetic works: 

' ' Hasta cierta epoca . . . escribio versos, iba a decir, a granel ' ' ; 

and he adds : " . . . f ue poeta, y poeta t'ecundisimo, y poeta ver- 

daderaniente inspirado. ' ' 

Drama 

La Prensa libre: Comedia original en tres actos y 'en verso. Published 
by Kepulles, Madrid, 1844, as one of the series of Galeria dramdtica'. 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 81 

La Lama del rey : Zarzuela. In one act and in verse. Published by Jose 
Kodriguez, Madrid, 1885, in vol. 7 of el Teatro; music by D. Emilio 
Arrieta. 

El Medio entre dos extremos 6 Ser esposa y madre fiel. A tragic drama 

Enamorar con peluca. A comedy. 

El Maris cal. It was stated by Goy to have received the praises of Gil y 
Zarate and Ventura de la Vega. 

Kegarding the dramatic productions of Villoslada, Goy says : 
"A la vista tengo varios dramas, tragicos unos . . . comicos 
otros." Also, "Sobre mi mesa de estudio tengo verdaderos mon- 
tones de poesias sneltas, dramas, sainetes, comedias ..." And 
again, he says, speaking of the period 1836 to 1840 which was so 
prolific in poetry and drama in the life of onr author : ' ' En 
epoca posterior, aun compuso Villoslada alguna que otra pieza 
dramatica, pero no tardo en abandonar por completo este genero 
de Literatura. ..." 

Miscellaneous 

Apuntes intimos. An autobiographical record kept by Villoslada from his 
youth. 

Viaje alrededor de mi mesa. 1828-1829. 

TJn D is cur so que se escribio para una junta general de las Conferencias de 
San Vicente de Paid. 

Memoria haciendo ver la necesidad de un nuevo reglamento.- On telegraph 
regulation. 1839. 

El Castillo de Marcilla in Recuerdos Historicos. Published in Semanario 
Pintoresco Espanol, p. 125, April 18, 1841. 

Telegrafos espanoles. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, p. 155, 
May 16, 1841. 

La Muerte de Cesar Borja in Leyendas nacionales. Published in Semanario 
Pintoresco EspaTiol, p. 210, July 4, 1841. 

Influencia del cristianismo en la civilization. A series of articles which 
appeared in el Arpa del Creyente. 1842. 

Introduction. Editorial in el Siglo Pintoresco, I, 1, April, 1845. 

El Fin del mundo. Published in el Siglo Pintoresco, I, 113, August, 1845. 

Introduction. Editorial in el Siglo Pintoresco, II, 1, January, 1846. 

Introduction. Editorial in the Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, p. 1, Janu- 
ary, 1846. 

La Torre de Babel in Antigiiedades. Published in Semanario Pintoresco 
Espanol, p. 26, January, 1846. 

El Arriero in Tipos y costumbres espanoles. Published in el Siglo Pin- 
toresco, II (1846), 18, 59. 



82 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

El Mundo nuevo. Published in Semanario Pintoresco Espanol, pp. 380-82, 

387-89, 394, January, 1853. 
Covadonga. Published in el Museo Universal, pp. 4-6, January, 1857. 
Eistoria de la Imprenta National comparada con la de Paris y Viena. Writ- 
ten 1857-58. Unpublished. 
Itinerario de Madrid a Viena. Written 1857-58. Unpublished. 
El Catolicismo y la ensenanza en las universidades. A series of articles 

which appeared in el Pensamiento Espanol, 1861. 
Los Catolicos y las elecciones. A series of articles which appeared in el 

Pensamiento Espanol, 1865. 
El nuevo periodico y el nuevo partido. A series of articles which appeared 

in el Pensamiento Espanol, 1867. 
Una Parodia. An article which appeared in el Pensamiento Espanol, 

January 25, 1869. 
De lo prehistorico en las provintias vascongadas. Published in la Ilustra- 

cion espanola y americana; no. 1, pp. 6-10, 30-31, 1877. 
Villoslada' s farewell to el Pensamiento. An article which appeared in 

el Pensamiento Espanol, March 15, 1872. 
El Canonigo. In los Espanoles pintados por si mismos, Madrid, 1851. 
Compendio de la vida de San Alfonso M® de Ligorio. Published in Madrid, 

Tipog. de los Huerfanos, 1887., 

It is not the intention of the writer to convey the impression 
that these few items listed comprise any large or important part 
of the writings of our author. On the contrary, we are sure that 
these form a very insignificant part of the whole. Passing 
without comment the numerous miscellaneous contributions which 
must have come from his pen during the thirty-two years of his 
journalistic career and to which we have casually referred in this 
paper, we come to those years when he completely abandoned 
politics and turned his attention to literature. Speaking of this 
period, the period of his Amaya, dona Petra, his daughter, says : 
' ' Tambien escribio por esa epoca muchos articulos literarios. ' ' 

Correspondence 

Letter of Villoslada to his parents. Written from Santiago, March 7, 

1832. 
Letter of Villoslada to his friend, Jose Gil, 1837. 
Letter of resignation to el Espanol, March 26, 1848. 
Letter of Gonzalez Pedroso to Villoslada. Eeceived July 30, 1855. 
Letter of Villoslada to Pedroso, June 24, 1859. 
Letter of Villoslada to Pedroso, August 15, 1860. . 



FRANCISCO NAVARRO VILLOSLADA 83 

Letters of Nocedal to Villoslada, October 6 and 9, 1867. 
Letter of Villoslada to La Fe, March 12, 1886. 

Telegram of Don Carlos to Ciriaco, brother of Villoslada, following the 
death of the author. 



A Preliminary List of Periodicals With Which Villoslada was 
Connected either as Contributor, Editor, or Director 

La Abeja. A manuscript review. 1830. 

El Correo National. 1840. 

La Gaceta de Madrid. 1840, 1845. Named director in 1857, although he 
did not take charge because of his absence from Spain. 

Semanario Pintoresco Espanol. 1841. Director, 1845-46. 

El Arpa del Creyente. Director, 1842. 

El Siglo Pintoresco. Director, 1845-46. 

Between the years 1840 and 1846, Villoslada was connected with 
el Regenerador, la Revista de Galicia, el Boletin del Instituto Espanol, 
el Gabinete de Ledum and el Espectador, becoming director of el 
Regenerador about 1846. 

El Espanol. 1845. Director, 1846-48. 

La Espaiia. Director, 1848- % 

El Padre Cobos. 1854-56. 

El Parlamento. I860-? 

El Pensamiento Espanol. Director and proprietor, 1860-72. 

El Nuevo Constantino, Conspiration, Lo que se vay lo que se viene, 
Union, el Buen Principe, la Carta del Rey, were other periodicals with 
which he was connected during 1860-72. Then follow la Ciencia Cris- 
tiana, la Fe, and la Ilustracion Catolica. In 1853 he was contributing 
to el Museo Universal, and in 1877 to la Ilustracion Espanola y 
Americana. 



84 LITEBARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



APPENDIX II 

Bibliography 

Blanco GarcIa, Francisco. 

La Literatura espaiiola en el siglo XIX. Ed. 3, 2 vols., Madrid, 
1909-10. 

Canovas del Castillo, Antonio. 

El Solitario y su tiempo. Biografia de D. Serafin Estebanez Calderon 
y critica de sus obras. 2 vols., Madrid, 1883. 

Castro, Fernando de. 

Eesumen de historia de Espafia. Madrid, 1878. 

El Museo Universal. Madrid, 15 de enero de 1857. 

El Perpetuo Socorro. 25 vols., Madrid, 1913-16. 

A monthly religious review published by the Padres Reden- 
toristas in Madrid, Spain. Under the title of "Flores del Cielo, " 
Juan Nepomuceno Goy, C. SS. R. has reviewed the life of Villoslada, 
considered primarily from his religious side, and as a model to the 
youth of the land. It is the first attempt made heretofore to study 
our author fully in any one of his various phases. See el Perpetuo 
Socorro: Abril, num. 173; Mayo, num. 174; Julio, num. 177 
Agosto, num. 178; Septiembre, num. 179; Octubre, num. 180 
Noviembre, num. 181; and Diciembre, num. 182 de 1913; Febrero 
num. 184; Marzo, num. 185; Mayo, num. 187; Agosto, num. 190 
Noviembre, num. 193; Diciembre, num. 194 de 1914; Febrero 
ntim. 196; Marzo, ntim. 197; Mayo, num. 199; Julio, num. 201 
Agosto, ntim. 202; Septiembre, num. 203; Diciembre, ntim. 206 de 
1915; Enero, ntim. 207; Febrero, ntim. 208; Marzo, ntim. 209; Oc- 
tubre, ntim. 216 de 1916. 

El Siglo Pintoresco. 3 vols., Madrid, 1845-1847. 

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James. 

Historia de la literature espaiiola. Madrid, 1913. 

Gonzalez Blanco, Andres. 

Historia de la novela en Espafia desde el romanticismo a nuestros dias. 
Madrid, 1909. 

Gonzalez Pedroso, Eduardo. 

Autos sacramentales desde su origen hasta fines del siglo XVII. 
Madrid, 1908. 

Hume, S. 

Modern Spain, 1788-1898. New York, 1900. 

La Ilustracion Espafiola y Americana. Madrid, 1877, 1880, 1882, 1895. 

Menendez y Pelayo, Marcelino. 

Estudios de critica literaria. Madrid, 1908. 



FEANCISCO NAY AERO VILLOSLADA 85 

Mesonero Komanos, Eamon de. 

Trabajos no coleccionados. Publicados por sus hijos. 2 vols., Madrid, 
1905. 

Navarro Villoslada de SendIn, Dona Petra. 
Letter to the writer, Madrid, March 23, 1917. 

A brief survey is given of the principal events in the life of 
Villoslada, her father. 

Obras de Pastor DfAZ. 6 vols., Madrid, 1866. 

Ossorio y Bernard, Manuel. 

Ensayo de un catalogo de periodistas espanoles del siglo XIX. Madrid, 
1903. 

Phillips, W. Alison. 

Modern Europe. Ed. 5, London, 1908. 

Pineyro, Enrique. 

El Eomanticismo en Espana. Paris, 1904. 

Kogerio-Sanchez, Jose\ 

Autores espanoles e hispano-americanos. Madrid, 1911. 
Seignobos, Charles. 

Political history of Europe since 1814. New York, 1900. 

Semanario Pintoresco Espanol. 1841, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1849, 1853. 
Stephens, H. Morse. 

Syllabus of a Course of eighty-seven Lectures on Modern European 
history (1600-1890). New York, 1910. 



A STUDY OF THE WRITINGS OF 
D. MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA 

1809-1837 



BY 
ELIZABETH McGUIRE 



A STUDY OF THE WRITINGS OF D. MARIANO 
JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 



BY 

ELIZABETH McGUIRE 



Nothing has been written in English about Mariano Jose de 
Larra. In Spanish, while all who make mention of him attest 
his extraordinary ability, thus far the available material con- 
cerning the young genius is meager. 

The earliest collection of Larra 's writings relatively complete 
is the Madrid edition of Yenes, 1843. It contains a general 
sketch of a critical and biographical nature signed C. Cortes. 1 
The two volumes 47 and 48 of the Coleccion de los m,ejores 
autores espcmoles, Paris, 1883, are an exact textual reproduction 
of the edition of 1843. 

In 1852, when the friends and admirers of Larra subscribed 
to the publication of an illustrated edition of el Doncel de don 
Enrique el doliente a prologue was inserted written by Larra 's 
son, Luis Mariano de Larra. The brief tribute has a restrained 
passion of mournful love and pride that proclaims him here at 
least the worthy son of a great father and the criticism may 
well be considered intuitive. 

Occasional mention of Larra is made by Mesonero Eomanos 
in his Memorias de un setenton, Madrid, 1880. 2 



i The opinion of Cayetano Cortes is important since he was Larra 's 
contemporary and friend and frequented the Cafe del Prinvipe, a favorite 
haunt of Larra and of the young men of letters of his time. 

2 It-should be sufficient proof of Larra 's vivid personality and of his 
literary importance that this friend, in character directly opposed to him, 



88 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

D. Antonio Canovas del Castillo in his el Solitario y su tiempo, 
Madrid, 1883, cites several of the French sources from which 
Larra drew much inspiration. More recently Benito Perez 
Galdos, {Episodios nacionales), in los Apostolicos comments un- 
favorably on Larra 's leaning toward the French. 

In 1885 J. Yxart 3 selected from Larra 's writings for the 
Biblioteca cldsica espanola, published at Barcelona a Coleccion 
de afticulos escogidos. His choice includes articles on politics, on 
customs and on literary criticism — the three classes into which 
Larra 's newspaper writings are divided. D. Marcelino-Menendez 
y Pelayo in his Antologia de poetas Uricos castellanos, IV (1893- 
95), gives pause to remark upon the strange contradiction in 
Larra whose lengua mordaz caused him to be feared as a satirist 
and whose exposition of the tender passion of Macias won him 
the sympathetic approval of the romanticists. 4 

But the excellent work of Manuel Chaves, D. Mariano Jose de 
Larra {Figaro) : su vida, sus obras, . . . Sevilla, 1898, gives the 
fullest data. It is especially valuable because of the documentary 
evidence that it furnishes concerning Larra 's family; his edu- 
cation ; the classification of the various newspapers for which he 
wrote; the sources from which he drew his dramatic material; 
and the nature of many of his unpublished writings. 

D. P. Francisco Blanco Garcia in his la Literatura espanola 
en el siglo XIX, Madrid, 1903, has numerous references to Larra 
and, while he decries his ability as a dramatist, in the concluding 



writing almost half a century after Larra 's death, recalls him so frequently 
and nearly always wi^h praise. 

3 It is this Yxart, whom Eaf ael Altamira y Cervea in his Be historia 
y arte (pp. 259, 261, 265) styles "sereno y reposado en la critica, " and 
praising ' ' lo firme, grave y sincero de su juicio ' ' he adds curiously enough, 
"No era, sin embargo, frio su estilo como el de Larra (a quien se parece 
algo)." 

4 ' ' Nunca he podido explicarme esta singular atraccion y f atidico 
prestigio que atraia a Larra hacia la figura del Doncel. |,Que misteriosas 
afinidades podia haber fuera de la pasion amorosa, entre el alma sencilla 
del trovador gallego del siglo XV y el negro humorismo que fermentaba 
en el espiritu turbulento de Larra convirtiendo en hiel para su autor hasta 
los donaires de su pluma? Pero es lo cierto que la predileccion existio 
y que si se descompone en dos mitades el genio de Larra, Figaro sera la 
critica y la satira y Macias la pasion y la locura del amor. ' ' Menendez y 
Pelayo, Antologia de poetas Uricos castellanos. Prologo IV, 62. 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 89 

paragraphs of his second volume he indirectly gives his critical 
power the highest praise. 5 

D. Enrique Pineyro in his el Romanticismo en Espafia, Paris, 
1904, devotes a chapter to the romantic phase of Larra's writings. 

James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Historia de la literatura espanola, 
Madrid, 1916, lays emphasis on his satire. 6 

The iconoclastic review Bivas y Larra, Madrid, 1916, written 
by "Azorin" (D. Jose Martinez Ruiz), is the latest and the most 
enthusiastic of the commentaries on the writings of D. Mariano 
Jose de Larra. 7 

LARRA 'S SIGNIFICANT WORK 

In sifting out the still inadequate evidence presented by 
Larra 's critics there leaps at once to the attention the fact that he 
is no ordinary newspaper correspondent who can thus challenge 
the judgment of so many distinguished men. And there are, in 
fact, many reasons why it would not be strange if Larra 's name 
now lay dead with the names of his companion writers who 
doubtless struggled as desperately as he did in the desperate 
times in which they lived. 

Under the happiest conditions the press writer pays tribute 
to his trade. For the most part, what he publishes must flow 
as freely as water, and once published, like water spilt on the 
ground, it can never be gathered together. If by any chance 
his efforts escape oblivion, by the very nature of the purpose 



s "No estan representados tan bien como la novela la critica eabia 
y inilitante; pero son gloria de la edad contemporanea el erudito mas 
portentoso de que entre nosotros hay memoria en lo que va de siglo 
(Menendez y Pelayo) y el juez mas sensato e impa'rcial de artes y letras 
que hemos tenido desde los tiempos de Larra, (Balart)." Blanco Garcia, 
La Literatura espanola en el siglo XIX, II, 623. 

6 ' ' Tocale ahora a la prosa, en la cual ninguna figura mas notable podemos 
recordar que la de Mariano Jose de Larra. Pone al descubierto, con cruel 
amargura, la politica espanola y las flaquezas de sus compatriotas; poco 
animador es oir a cada paso que todos los hombres son unos canallas y 
que todos los males son irremediables ; pero es imposible leer las pesimistas 
paginas de Larra sin admirar su talento su macabro humor y su aspera 
lucidez de juicio. • . . Ha tenido sucesores, pero ninguno de ellos ha sido 
digno de ocupar el puesto que dejo vacante. ' ' Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Historia 
de la literatura espanola (pp. 416-17). 

i The work of J. Nombela y Campos, Madrid, 1909 (sin terminar) 
bearing the title Larra (Figaro) is not yet available. 



90 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

for which they are intended they are fragmentary and discon- 
nected and, however excellent they may be in themselves, they 
can never command the admiration that is due a harmonious 
whole. 

But Larra and his contemporaries had to struggle for fame 
against harsh circumstances aggravated. His son was right 
when he declared that his father could arrest attention though 
"En aquellos dias en que la guerra paralizaba los animos, era 
preciso mucho talento y mucha inteligencia para detener la ca- 
rrera de las imaginaciones y hacerlas pararse un solo instante en 
un hecho o una persona que no tuviera parte directa en la 
revolucion que se estaba operando." 8 

Well might one claim for Larra the indulgence accorded to 
extreme youth, for he had not yet reached his twenty-eighth 
birthday when on February 13th, 1837, he ended his life by his 
own hand. There is the further plea that the period of his 
serious literary expression was of the briefest, for since the first 
issue of el Poorecito Hablador appeared in August, 1832, his 
activity was limited to less than five years. 

That Larra embodied at least one phase of the spirit of roman- 
ticism is apparent in the various kinds of writing that he at- 
tempted ; the old and tried wearied, the new ever beckoned and 
enticed, as he has confessed plainly in whimsical mood in las 
Casas nuevas. Laudatory odes, satirical verse, romantic drama 
and historical novel, translations, adaptations, articles political, 
descriptive and critical, attest his versatility. Blanco Garcia has 
even unearthed an opera. 9 

But in Ya soy redactor, he makes us familiar with the irk- 
someness of the daily round. In opposition to the soberer judg- 
ment of his family he had wilfully married at twenty and 
when he should have been testing his creative powers, his imag- 
ination, a fiery steed, was harnessed instead to the heavy burden 



s Prologue to the illustrated edition of el Doncel, Madrid, 1852. 

9 En 1832 escribio otra (opera) D. Mar. J. de Larra con el titulo 
el Bapto, puesta en musica por el maestro D. Tomas Genoves, y que solo 
merece recuerdo por la fecha y por el nombre del autor, critico y prosista 
tan eminente como mediano alumno de las musas' (op. cit., II (1903), 
232-33). 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LARRA, 1809-1837 91 

of domestic necessity. Yet despite all these handicaps, Larra's 
best articles need no defense and one can afford to smile at 
Mesonero's apparent self-satisfaction when he contrasts his own 
temperament with that of Larra's: "el de Larra distaba lo 
bastante del mio para conducirle al snicidio a los treinta aiios 
mientras que a mi, j Dios sea loado ! me ha permitido emprender 
a los quince lustros 'las memorias de un setenton' " 10 For 
Larra's effortless writings are to him a monument more lasting 
than that of any of his associates who lived out their normal 
lives. 

Once he styles himself: "Nosotros meros articulistas de un 
periodico," and again in his plea for purity of language he sets 
forth sanely his position : 

Hemos dicho que la literatura es la expresion del progreso de ui? 
pueblo; y la palabra, hablada o escrita no es mas que la representacion 
de las ideas, es decir, de ese mismo progreso. — Quisieramos, sin ir mas 
lejos en la cuestion, ver al mismo Cervantes en el dia, forzado a dar al 
publico un articulo de periodico acerca de la eleccion directa, de la responsa- 
bilidad ministerial, del credito o del juego de bolsa, y en el quisieramos 
leer la lengua de Cervantes. Y no se nos diga que el sublime ingenio 
no hubiera nunca descendido a semejantes pequefieces, porque esas peque- 
fieces forman nuestra existencia de ahora, como constituian la de entonces 
las comedias de capa y espada; porque Cervantes que las escribia para 
vivir cuando no se escribian sino comedias de capa y espada escribiria 
para vivir tambien articulos de periodico hoy, que no se escriben sino 
articulos de periodico. 11 

But it is to his self-expression in his newspaper articles that 
Larra owes his lasting fame. 

CLASSIC OR ROMANTIC SCHOOL? 

Coexistent with the fearful political upheaval in Spain at this 
period, was the literary unrest ; but in the matter of the depart- 
ure from old classic tendencies and the adoption of new romantic 
ideas, Spain's struggle was less painful than that of other 
European countries. The Spanish classic school was at best a 
thing transplanted from France on the advent of Philip V, 



io Mesonero Romanos, Memorias de un setenton, II, 85. 
11 Ooras completas de Figaro, II, 59. 



92 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

grandson of Louis XIV. Its latest representatives had been 
Melendez Valdes, Cienfuegos and Quintana, and the latter in- 
clined unconsciously toward the new romantic movement. 
Calderon of the old national drama had been set up by August 
and Friederich von Schlegel as the great exponent of romanti- 
cism. Alberto Lista, teacher of classics that he was, looked with 
kindly eyes on the literary achievements of his famous pupils and 
discussed the new theories favorably in el Ateneo. Besides, the 
Spanish Academy at the time had not the social importance of 
the similar French institution ; there was no university strongly 
established that might have upheld the old against innovation 
and, furthermore, as has been indicated, the Spanish general 
public was not interested in literary disputations. 

Larra was young and a liberal and in so far as, according to 
Victor Hugo, "Romanticism is liberalism in literature," Larra 
was a romanticist. Enrique Pifieyro, in his Romanticismo en 
Espana, calls Macias the first romantic drama in verse that ap- 
peared in Spain; 12 and he styles Larra 's novel el Doncel de don 
Enrique el doliente (1834), of which the Macias is a dramatiza- 
tion, the best novel after the manner of "Walter Scott that exists 
in Castilian. 

Blanco Garcia is perhaps nearer the truth than are the rest 
when he writes: "Es cosa sabida que Larra se mantuvo algo 
indeciso en todas estas luchas y que el romanticismo transpire- 
naico no hallo en el ni un censor implacable ni tampoco un 
apologista. " 13 

Yxart writes of the stand that Larra took : 

Sus principios en materia de literatura guardaron una analogia com- 
pleta con los que en politica profesaba: enemigo de las trabas exageradas 
con que el clasicismo contenia el vuelo de todos los grandes ingenios, 
partidario de las innovaciones que habian de abrir a los poetas j a los 
escritores en general fuentes desconocidas de inspiracion, fue uno de los 
primeros apostoles del romanticismo, como uno de los promovedores de 



12 But as Blanco Garcia indicates l ' Kecuerdese, no obstante, que la 
primera representacion del Macias (24 de septiembre de 1834) fue prece- 
dida por la de la Conjuration de Venecia (Martinez de la Eosa). See 
Blanco Garcia, op. tit., I, 114. 

13 Ibid., I, 112. 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LARRA, 1809-1837 93 

las reformas constitucionales. Queria el progreso, queria la novedad en 
todo y ambas estaban para el simbolizadas en la libertad. 14 

But Larra himself has clearly defined his position. In Dos 
palabras that prefaces his Macias he maintains: "Macias es un 
hombre que ama, y nada mas. — Quien busque en el el sello de una 
escuela, quien le invente un nombre para clasificarlo, se equivo- 
cara. ' ' And again in his Literatura : 

Libertad en literatura, como en las artes, eomo en la industria, como 
en el comercio, como en la conciencia. He aqui la divisa de la epoca, he 
aqui la nuestra, he aqui la medida con que mediremos; en nuestros juicios 
criticos preguntaremos a un libro: Nos ensenas algo? Nos eres la expresion 
del progreso humano? Nos eres util? — Rues eres oueno. No reconocemos 
magisterio literario en ningun pais; menos en ningun hombre, menos en 
ninguna epoca, porque el gusto es relativo: no reconocemos una escuela 
exclusivamente buena, porque no hay ninguna absolutamente mala. Ni 
se crea que asignamos al que quiera seguirnos una tarea mas facil, no. 
Le instamos al estudio, al conocimiento del hombre: no le bastara como 
al cldsico abrir a Horacio y a Boileau, y despreciar a Lope o a Shake- 
speare: no le sera suficiente, como al romantico, colocarse en las banderas 
de Victor Hugo y encerrar las reglas con Moliere y con Moratin; no; 
porque en nuestra libreria campeara el Ariosto al lado de Virgilio, Eacine 
al lado de Calderon, Moliere al lado de Lope; a la par, en una palabra, 
Shakespeare, Schiller, Goethe, Biron, Victor Hugo y Corneille, Voltaire, 
Chateaubriand y Lamartine. 

Behusamos, pues, lo que se llama en el dia literatura entre nosotros; 
no queremos esa literatura reducida a las galas del decir, al son de la 
rima, a entonar sonetos y odas de circunstancias; que concede todo a la 
expresion y nada a la idea; sino una literatura hija de la experiencia y 
de la historia, y faro por tanto del porvenir, estudiosa, analizadora, filo- 
sofica, profunda, pensandolo todo, diciendolo todo en prosa, en verso, al 
alcance de la multitud ignorante aim; apostolica y de propaganda; 
ensenando verdades a aquellos a quienes interesa saberlas, mostrando al 
hombre, no como deoe ser, sino como es, para conocerle; literatura en fin, 
expresion toda de la ciencia de la epoca, del progreso intelectual del siglo. 15 



THE BSEUDONYM FiGABO 

In accordance with the custom of the times, humorous writers 
signed their articles with assumed names. Serafin Estevanez 
Calderon was el Solitario. El Estudiante was Antonio M. Segovia. 
Abenamar was Santos Lopez Pelegrin; Modesto de la Fuente 



1 4 Prologue to M. J. de Larra, Coleccion de articulos escogidos. 
is Ob. comp. de Fig., op. cit., II, 61. 



94 L1TERABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

wrote under the disguise of Fray Gerundio. Mesonero Romanos 
established his reputation as el Curioso Parlante. 

Larra published his first newspaper work in a pamphlet which 
he styled el Duende Satirico. This was in March, 1828. Larra 
was scarcely nineteen. El Duende came out at no fixed time. In 
all, five numbers were issued. Under the heading appeared a 
significant quotation from Boileau: "Des sotises de tempes je 
compose mon fiel." 16 Because of its satirical nature its publica- 
tion was suspended by the government in August, 1829. 

After the publication of No mas mostrador and Roberto 
Dillon, Larra ventured once more into the publication of news- 
paper articles thinking that the enlightened despotism of Cea 
Bermudez would permit a freer expression of thought than had 
been possible when el Duende Satirico had been suppressed under 
Calomarde. Hence it is that after complying with all the tedious 
laws then in force, in August, 1832, there appeared the first 
copies of el Pobrecito Hablador. 17 El Pobrecito Hablador had no 
fixed date for appearing. Each number consisted of some twenty- 
five pages. Repulles was the printer. It was he who printed 
Larra 's one novel el Doncel de don Enrique el doliente. 

In view of the superior later work from Larra 's pen his ef- 
forts in el Pobrecito Hablador have been underestimated. Cano- 
vas del Castillo makes the assertion that Larra adapted from the 
French of de Jouy and from Paul Louis Courrier de Mere (1772- 
1825) such articles appearing here as el Castellano vie jo, Vaelva 
usted manana, el Mundo todo es mascaras, Empenos y desem- 
penos and el Casarse pronto y mat. To quote from Mesonero 
Eomanos : 

... a fines de 1832 . . . aparecio en el palenque de la prosa humoristica, 
otro nuevo campeon, D. Mariano Jose de Larra, que bajo el pseudonimo 



is According to M. Chaves, the Marques de Jerez de los Caballeros in 
Seville possesses some copies of el Duende. One dated May, 1828, consists 
of less than forty-four pages and is in the form of a leaflet in octavo. 
It contains besides a frontispiece a section entitled Corridas de toros ; 
well known quintillas of Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin; an ode to Pedro 
Eomero, by Moratin; el Toreador nuevo (story by Calderon de la Barca); 
and Correspondencia del Duende, an article by Larra signed el Duende. 

it In 1820 Sebastian Minano had published las'Cartas del Pobrecito 
Holgazdn. 



WHITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LAREA, 1809-1837 95 

de El Pobrecito Hdblador empezo a dar a la estampa varios folletos sin 
perlodo fijo insertando articulos o mas bien satiras en verso y prosa sobre 
determinadas clases, tales como autores, comediantes y composiciones 
dramaticas, haciendolas extensivas de vez en cuando a la pintura de las 
costumbres. Estas primeras producciones de aquel agudo ingenio, que 
mas adelante, y por el campo virgen de la satira politica habia de rayar 
a tan inmensa altura, carecian ciertamente de originalidad y de plan y 
solo en fuerza de la inmensa popularidad, justamente alcanzada despues 
por Larra pueden hoy obtener un puesto en la coleccion de sus obras. 

After the eighth issue had appeared Larra realized the ever 
increasing difficulty of publishing his articles. In January, 1833, 
in a footnote of the eleventh number, writing as el Bachiller 
Munguia, he declared that "Sintomas alarmantes nos anuncian 
que el hablador padece de la lengua." In the issue of March, 
1833, he stated that "donde quiera que volvemos los pasos en- 
contramos una pared insuperable, pared que fuera locura pre- 
tender derribar." In the fourteenth number wherein is de- 
scribed the death of el Bachiller Munguia, we have the asser- 
tion: "tengo miedo y de miedo muero; lo cual no me da ver- 
guenza, asi como hay otras cosas que tampoco se la dan a otros. ' ' 

But according to Mesonero Romano's statement, it was he 
who presented Larra to Jose Maria Carnerero, the founder and 
editor of la Revista Espaiiola and as Mesonero was about to leave 
Spain to travel abroad, he suggested the young writer as his 
substitute during his absence. Larra had submitted the ques- 
tion of a suitable pen name to his companions gathered together 
in el Cafe del Principe. Several names were suggested and re- 
jected. At length Grimaldi 18 proffered the title Figaro. Me- 
sonero disapproved of it because of its foreign origin, averring 
that it was as unsuitable for the purpose as the title Sancho- 
Panza would be under similar circumstances for a Frenchman. 19 
But Larra received the suggestion with acclaim. 

His first article in la Revista Espaiiola was Mi nombre y mis 



is D. Juan de Grimaldi, the theatrical manager in Madrid, friend and 
counselor of men of letters who won fame through his own humorous 
production la Pata de cdbra. 

!9 Mesonero Eomanos, op. cit., II, 86. This accounts for Larra 's using 
the name Figaro, when referring to himself in the last articles of el 
Pobrecito Hdblador. 



96 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

propositos and in referring to the name he had chosen he wrote : 
"Dijome el amigo que debia Uamarme Figaro, nombre a la par 
sonoro y significativo de mis hazafias, porque aunque no soy bar- 
bero, ni de Sevilla, soy como si lo fuera, charlatan, enrededor y 
curioso ademas si los hay. Me llamo, pues, Figaro." Further- 
more the excerpt from le Barbier de Seville (Act I), with which 
he heads his first article, is significant : 

Figaro. — Ennuye de moi, degoute des autres — superieur aux evenements, 
loue par ceux-ci, blame par ceux-la; aidant au bon temps, supportant le 
mauvais; me moquant des sots, bravant les mechantes — vous me voyez 
enfin — 

To which the count inquires : 

Qui t'a donne une philosophie aussi gaie? 

And we get some insight into Larra's sense of the appropriate- 
ness of his title from the barber 's reply : 

L 'habitude du malheur. Je me presse 
de rire de tout, de peur d 'etre oblige 
d'en pleurer. 

Figaro improvising and correcting his song under Eosine's win- 
dow, his guitar slung over his shoulder, is a pleasing recollection, 
but Figaro 's explanation of his leaving Madrid and the republic 
of letters is what made a more direct appeal to Larra who in his 
brief career as a writer had already met so many rebuffs : 

Voyant a Madrid que la republique des lettres, etait celle des loups, 
toujours armes les uns contre les autres et que, livres au mepris ou ce 
risible acharnement les conduit, tous les insectes, les moustiques, les 
cousins, les critiques, les maringouins, les envieux, les feullistes, les 
"libraires, les censeurs, tout ce qui s 'attache a la peau des malheureux 
gens de lettres, achevoit de dechiqueter et sucer le peu de substance qui 
leur restoit; fatigue d'ecrire, ennuye de moi, degoute des autres, abyme de 
dettes, et leger d'argent; a la fin, convaincu que Putile revenu du rasoir 
est preferable aux vains honneurs de la plume, j 'ai quitte Madrid. 

This was Beaumarchais' conception of the state of affairs in 
Madrid in 1775. Sorrier still is the plight of a newspaper writer 
as he sees it in 1784, for in his le Mariage de Figaro (Act V, 
scene iii), he has Figaro lay bare the hopeless situation: 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LARBA, 1809-1837 97 

... on me dit que pendant ma retraite economique il s 'est etabli dans 
Madrid un systeme de liberte sur la vente des productions qui s'etend 
meme a celles de la presse; et que, pourvu que je ne parle en mis ecrits, 
ni de l'autorite, ni du eulte, ni de la politique, ni de la morale, ni des gens 
en place, ni des corps en credit, ni de 1 'opera, ni des autres spectacles ni 
de personne qui tienne a quelque chose, je puis tout imprimer librement 
sous 1 'inspection de deux ou trois censeurs. Pour profiter de cette douce 
liberte, j'annonce un ecrit periodique, et croyant n'aller sur les brisees 
d'aucun autre, je le nomme Journal inutile. Pou-ou! je vois s'elever 
contre moi, mille pauvres diables a la feuille; on me supprime; et me voila 
derechef sans emploi! 

Fifty-one years later Larra wrote his article un Periodico 
nuevo, and quoting the above from the monologue of Figaro he 
concludes his satire: "Ponga usted la fecha en que eso se es- 
cribio — 1784 — Bien. Ahora la fecha de hoy — 22 de enero 1835, 
y debajo; — Figaro." To Larra 's mind the situation was still 
unchanged. 

But the satirical allusions in the two comedies of Beau- 
marchais are not all concerning the pitiable condition of the 
press. When Louis XVI declared himself opposed to the pre- 
sentation of le Manage de Figaro because its effect would be 
the destruction of the Bastille, he realized that in the play could 
be found protests against all abuses of authority whether social 
or political. Knowing these things we understand somewhat 
the task that Larra set himself when as Figaro he undertook 
on the one hand to reveal his fellow-countrymen to themselves, 
and on the other to lift his voice against contemporary wrongs. 
In Cuatro palabras del traductor, his preface to his translation 
of Les paroles d'un croyant of M. Lamennais, speaking of the 
sovereignty of the people, he writes: 

En consecuencia lie traducido este libro, porque sean cuales fueren sus 
doctrinas, pertenezcan al presente o al porvenir, creo que la palabra no 
puede ser jamas nociva. La mentira impresa y propalada cae por si sola, 
y puede ser rebatida con la palabra misma. Por el contrario, la verdad 
impresa y propalada triunfa, pero triunfa a fuerza de convencer, triunfa 
sin violentar, y este es el mas bello triunfo posible. 

En estos prineipios se apoya la libertad del pensamiento, y en este 
sentido no conocemos crimen mayor que el empefio que los gobiernos ponen 
en coartarla. No solo privan de un derecho a su generacion, sino que 



98 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

asesinan en su germen a su posteridad. En nuestra opinion los hombres 
todos deben saberlo todo. Solo asi podran juzgar, solo asi podran comparar 
y elegir. 

Knowing that this represented his belief and knowing his 
delight in his pseudonym Figaro, which he retained until the 
last, we comprehend the spirit in which he set about his task. 

THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF LARRA'S WRITINGS 

No one familiar with Spain 's fearful history from the uprising 
of the common people on the second of May, 1808, till the end 
of the eight years of civil war that followed the death of Ferdin- 
and VII, can fail to realize that these intolerably complicated 
struggles were the worst possible auspices under which to foster 
literary advancement. For four years after the common people 
had made their brave protest against the actions of their rulers 
Charles IV and Ferdinand VII who had yielded themselves to a 
foreign will and sold their country for a price, Spain smarted 
under the sane but galling rule of Joseph Bonaparte. With the 
aid of Wellington, the battle of Arapiles was won in 1812. A 
year later came the conclusive triumph at Vitoria and the people 
welcomed Ferdinand, ' ' a poor thing but their own, ' ' back to the 
kingdom he had so lightly abandoned, and on his adoption of the 
constitution drawn up at Cadiz in 1812, the scepter was placed 
once more in his unsteady grasp. 

Unhappily Spain 's troubles were not ended with the expulsion 
of a foreign power. This dreadful upheaval was folloAved by 
conflicts even more deadly, for the contending parties were all 
of Spanish birth. In 1830 Ferdinand married Maria Cristina, 
a Bourbon princess of the two Sicilies. On revoking the Salic 
law because of her, he put an end to the hopes of ruling that his 
brother Charles was entertaining. With Charles and his re- 
sentful "Apostolic" party in open rebellion; with Ferdinand 
himself under the sway of the ignorant and scheming minister 
Calomarde ; with the latter giving place because of his treachery 
to his vacillating successor Cea Bermudez, who in turn yielded 
to the man of words, Martinez de la Eosa, we have Spain a prey 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LARRA, 1809-1837 99 

to individuals in power who were either utterly indifferent to 
their country's distress or else bent solely on their own personal 
aggrandizement. 

As a consequence of the unpalatable state of affairs at Madrid, 
the Spanish capital was depleted of its best. Numerous families 
had withdrawn to the provinces ; others had established them- 
selves in Cadiz, whence issued the Constitution of 1812. Still 
others had taken refuge in foreign countries. Not a few had 
been forcibly banished. When Calomarde had been ejected from 
the ministry and from Spain, his successor Cea Bermudez did 
not spare the King's own brother Charles, but demanded his 
exile. When in turn ministerial honors were offered to Martinez 
de la Rosa, he had to be summoned from abroad to accept them. 
To mention one or two others : the aristocrat, Angel de Saavedra, 
was compelled to spend ten years without setting foot on Spanish 
soil ; Leandro Fernandez de Moratin, after having accepted from 
Joseph Bonaparte the post of royal librarian, had on the down- 
fall of the French, fled from Spain for Italy and Paris. Hence 
it is plain that where the boldest offenders were removed and a 
tight rein kept on potential followers, only a subdued attitude 
on the part of those remaining could result. Mesonero Romanos, 
referring to the imprisonment of his friends Iznardi and Olozaga 
for their too frank expression of opinion, draws this lesson : 
"This happening made me more cautious thenceforth, for I 
realized that on every occasion — it was very dangerous to play 
with fire." 20 

Our attention, however, centers mainly on the years between 
1832 and 1837, for this brief stretch of time was the period of 
Larra's important literary activity. Studying the articles of 
Figaro that appeared in la Revista Espanola from January, 1833, 
to August, 1835, one sees a picture of those exciting times un- 
equalled by that given by any other writer. That Larra himself 
realized the importance of his contribution to recorded history 
one can gauge from his introduction to a collection of the writ- 
ings of Figaro where he says: 



20 Ibid., II, 33-34. 



100 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

No se le de otra importanica que la que debe tener para el observador 
una serie de articulos que, habiendose publicado durante epocas tan 
fecundas en variaciones politicas, puede servir de medida para compa- 
rarlas. Con la publicacion del Pobrecito Hablador empece a cultivar este 
genero arriesgado bajo el ministerio de Calomarde; la Bevista Espanola 
me abrio sus columnas en tiempo de Cea, y he escrito en el Observador 
durante Martinez de la Eosa. Esta coleccion sera, pues, cuando menos, 
un documento historico, una elocuente croniea de nuestra llamada libertad 
de imprenta. 21 

Most of the articles written by Larra for la Revista Espwnola 
up to the death of Ferdinand VII, were either literary or dra- 
matic criticisms or else clearly drawn pictures of social frauds, 
or of the weakness of individual members of society. But the 
daily was firm for the government and for Maria Cristina; the 
queen indeed had no more loyal subject than Larra, whom she 
had distinguished by her favor. Hence it is, that almost simul- 
taneously with the Carlist assumption of control at Vitoria there 
appeared in la Bevista Espanola, Nadie pase sin haolar al portero 
o los Viajeros en Vitoria, perhaps Larra 's most famous political 
sketch, wherein he scornfully draws the picture of the Carlists' 
clerical allies exercising their propensity for greed on all new- 
comers at the improvised custom house. He seems to have dipped 
his pen in vitriol as he writes : 

Llego el veloz carruaje a las puertas de Vitoria, y una voz estentorea 
de estas que salen de un cuerpo bien nutrido, intimo la orden de detener 
a los ilusos viajeros. jHola! jEa! dijo la voz, ; nadie pase! ; Nadie 
pase! repitio el espariol. — |,Son ladrones? dijo el f ranees. — No, senor, 
repuso el espanol asomandose, "son de la aduana. " Pero cuan fue su 
admiracion cuando sacando la cabeza del empolvado carruaje, echo la 
vista sobre un corpulento religioso, que era el que toda aquella bulla 
metia? Dudoso toda via el viajero, extendia la vista por el horizonte por 
ver si descubria alguno del resguardo; pero solo vio otro padre al lado y 
otro mas alia, y ciento mas, repartidos aqui y alii como los arboles en un 
paseo. — j Santo Dios! exclamo, jCochero! este hombre ha equivocado el 
camino. &Nos ha traido usted al yermo o a Espaila? — "Senor, " dijo el 
cochero, "si Alava esta, en Espaiia, en Espana debemos estar. " — "Vaya, 
poca conversacion, " dijo el padre, cansado ya de admiraciones y asombros; 
"conmigo es con quien se las ha de haber usted, senor viajero. — &Con 
usted, padre? Y que puede tener que mandarme su reverencia? Mire 
que yo vengo confesado desde Bayona, y de alia aqui, maldito si tuvimos 



21 Figaro, Coleccion de articulos dramaticos, . . . 1835-37. 



WEITINGS OF MABIANO JOSE DE LAKBA, 1809-1837 101 

ocasion de peear, ni aun venialmente, mi companero y yo, como no sea 
pecado viajar por estas tierras. — ' ' Calle, ' ' dijo el padre, ' ' y mejor para 
su alma. En nombre del Padre y del Hijo." — jAy Dios mio! exclamo el 
viajero, erzados los cabellos, que han creido en este pueblo que traemos 
los malos y nos conjuran. " — "y del Espiritu Santo" prosiguio el padre; 
"Apeense, y hablaremos. " — Aqui empezaron a aparecerse algunos fac- 
ciosos y alborotados, con un Carlos V cada uno en el sombrero por 
escarapela. 

But at the Frenchman's exclamation of surprise, uttered in 
his own tongue, the storm breaks forth and the assertion some- 
times made that Larra lacks imagination ought forever to be 
refuted by the astounding evidence of the following remarkable 
description : 

; Contrabando! clamo el uno; j Contrabando, clamo otro; y j contra- 
bands fue repitiendose de fila en fila. Bien como cuando cae una gota 
de agua en el aciete hirviendo de una sarten puesta a la lumbre, alzase 
el liquido hervidor, y bulle, y salta, y levanta y llama, y chilla, y chis- 
porrotea, y cae en el hogar, y alborota la lumbre, y subleva la ceniza, 
espeluznase el gato inmediato que descansado junto al rescoldo dormia, 
quemanse los chicos, y la casa es un iniierno; asi se alboroto, y se espeluzno 
y chillo la retahila de aquel resguardo de nueva especie, compuesto de 
facciosos y de padres, al caer entre ellos la primera palabra francesa del 
extranjero desdichado. ' ' 

g,Que trae usted en la maleta? Libros — pues BechercJies sur — #A1 sur? 
&Eh? Este BechercJies sera algtin autor de marina; Algun herejote. Vayan 
los libros a la lumbre. &Que mas? jAh! Una partida de relojes, a ver — 
London — Ese sera el nombre del autor. &Que es esto? — Eelojes para un 
amigo relojero que tengo en Madrid. — "De comiso," dijo el padre y al 
decir de comiso, cada circunstante cogio un reloj y metiosele en la faltri- 
quera. Es fama que hubo alguno que adelanto la hora del suyo para que 
llegase mas pronto la del refectorio. 

Hardly less notable than his Nadie pase sin hablar al porte?*o, 
is his minute description of la Plant a nueva o el Faccioso where 
with elaborate imagery he delineates the characteristics of these 
rebels against the established government. This selected para- 
graph illustrates his original method of presentation : 

Notan tambien graves naturalistas de peso y autoridad en la materia, 
que asi como el feo pulpo gusta de agarrarse a la hermosa pierna de una 
mujer y asi como esas desagradables florecillas, llenas de puas y en forma 
de erizos, que llamamos comunmente amores, suelen agarrarse a la ropa, 
asi los facciosos, sobre todo los mas talludos y los vastagos principales, 



102 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

se agarran a las cajas de fondos de las administraciones; y plata que 
tiene roce con facciosos pierde toda su virtud, porque desaparece. Eara 
afinidad quimica! Asi que en tiempos revueltos suelese ver una violenta 
rafaga de aire que da con un gran manojo de facciosos, arrancados de su 
tierra natal, en algun pueblo, el cual dejan exhausto, desolado y lleno de 
pavor y espanto; meten por las calles un ruido furioso a manera de pro- 
clama, y es nineria querer desembarazarse de ellos, teniendo dinero, sin 
dejafsele; bien asi como fuera locura querer salir de un zarzal una persona 
vestida de seda sino desnuda y aranada. 

La Junta del Castel-o-branco, which portrays the sensations 
of the Spaniard witnessing the criminally stupid proceedings of 
" Senores de la junta" is but another fearful caricature of the 
actions of the Carlists, who flee in terror at the first showing 
of their enemy, the partisan of the established government : 

Pero ya en esto diez y nueve robustos contrabandistas habian entrado 
a dar sus diez y nueve votos en la junta, y echandose cada uno un argu- 
mento a la cara: jViva Isabel II! dijeron. Haciase cruces el presidente, 
escondiase debajo de la banqueta el excelentisimo senor ministro de ha- 
cienda, tapaba el notario de reinos el acta, no salia el tartamudo de la 
p — inicial de perdon, y hacian los demas un acto de atricion con mas miedo 
del infierno que amor a Dios. . . . 

His Bevista del Ano 1834 though an imitation of de Jouy, to 
whom he gives due thanks, is significant from the standpoint of 
history. He personifies the year, making it say in part : 

La posteridad no dira que no he sido filosofo; Todo lo contrario: He 

tornado las cosas conforme han venido: He visto abolido el voto de 

Santiago, pequeno paso, y como este otros tan menudos que no los re- 

cuerdo. Grande, nada he visto sino la paciencia. He visto celebrarse un 

gran tratado diplomatico; No he visto sus resultados. 

Encontre a mi advenimiento algunos facciosos; al morir me hallo en 

el apuro del que muere muy rico, en este particular; no se los que dejo. 
He mirado estrellarse en las provincias reputaciones antiguas, como la 

espuma del mar en las rocas. 

Una calamidad tan espantosa como esa, ha hecho y hara por mucho 

tiempo memorable mi existencia; un azote del cielo ha devastado el suelo. 

El colera-morbo se ha llevado lo que ha perdonado la guerra civil- 
En punto a ciencias, no he visto nada: En literatura, he visto una o 

dos producciones nuevas; he visto dos dramas historicos, de que no se si 

hablaran tanto como yo mis sucesores. 

En artes tampoco he visto gran cosa. El ano 34 sera celebre por sus 

calamidades; nadie empero le vera jamas en el libro de los adelantos 



WEI TINGS OF MABIANO JOSE DE LABRA, 1809-1837 103 

humanos para Espana; es de temer que no sea yo el ultimo a quien se 
haga ese reproche. 

Al dejar mi corto reinado, dejolo peor que lo encontre, y ojala que el 
remedio estuviera tan cerca como mi fin. Debo advertir que he vivido 
amordazado, y que muero todavia sin voz. Por eso me fuera imposible 
decir cuanto he visto; pero solo declarare que me hubiera estado mejor 
haber nacido ciego. 

Nowhere at this period does he express himself more boldly 
than in his Cartas to an imaginary Corr espousal. The first of 
these, styled Carta de Figaro a un bachiller sic corresponsal in 
stating the reasons for his non-appearance in print discloses 
plainly his dissatisfaction with the administration in power : 

. . . Por otra parte, acaso no sabra, vuesa merced que desde que tenemos 
una racional libertad de imprenta, apenas hay cosa racional que podamos 
racionalmente escribir. Si a esto se agrega como vuesa merced no tendra 
dificultad en agregarlo, que estamos ahora los periodistas tratando de 
tomar color, para lo cual tenemos que esperar a que lo tome primero el 
gobierno, con el objeto de tomar otro distinto, puesto que el se ha quedado 
con la iniciativa, no se admirara de que callemos nosotros, bien asi como 
el calla en puntos de mas prisa y trascendencia. 

And, emphasizing further the time wasted in the sessions, he 
offers as another reason for his failure to write : ' ' Ademas, aun- 
que las partes oficiales y los relatos de las sesiones en sustancia 
no dicen nada, no dejan por eso de ser largos; nos ocnpan por 
consiguiente las tres cuartas partes de nuestras columnas, y no 
nos dejan espacio para nada. ' ' 

With cholera raging in Madrid, though the authorities wish 
the knowledge of the true state of affairs suppressed, he writes 
in the same letter : 

Tres cosas sin embargo van mejor todos los dias sin que se eche de 
ver: la libertad, la salud y la guerra de Vizcaya. ;Tal es la reserva con 
que se hacen estas cosas! |Se sabe algo por ahi, senor bachiller, de don 
Carlos? Por aca todos convenimos en que esta en Londres, en Francia 
y en Elizondo a un mismo tiempo, asi como estan de acuerdo los medicos 
en que el colera no puede venir a Madrid por estar muy alto, y en que es 
contagioso y no epidemico, y epidemico y no contagioso. En cuanto al 
modo de curarlo, ya averiguado, llenos estan los cementerios de preserva- 
tives seguros, de remedios infalibles y de metodos curativos. Volviendo 
a don Carlos, dicen que el gobierno sabe de fijo donde para; pero vaya 
usted a preguntarselo. 



104 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

But because of its free speech la Revista was coming into dis- 
favor with the government. In his Segunda y ultima carta 
Larra writes to his Corresponsal : 

;Ah! ^Sabe vuesa merced quien es ministerial? — la Abej&. — &Sabe 
vuesa merced quien es el periodico de la oposicion? — la Revista. And he 
concludes his letter with the ironic postscript: Ha leido vuesa merced 
el Pdbrecito Hablador? Yo le publicaba en tiempo de Calomarde y de 
Cea; Ahora como ya tenemos libertad racional, probablemente no se 
podria publicar. 

Larra now (January, 1835) had to content himself with 
articles on customs and literary criticism. There appeared 
(January 16) un Rep de muerte (March 30), Poesias de D. Juan 
Bautista Alonso (February 14), una primera Representation. 

On the twelfth of April, 1835, he left Madrid in the company 
of his great friend the young Conde de Campo-Alange. Arriving 
at Merida, Larra spent two days visiting the famous ruins there. 
Two articles, las Antigiiedades de Merida, published in la Revista, 
one on the twenty-second, and the other on the thirtieth of May, 
give further proof of his versatility in that they show his power 
of appreciating other art than that of literature. 

A new daily, el Espanol, had been founded in Madrid in 
November, 1835, and Figaro was offered a position as contributor 
on his return from France. This accounts for his Figaro de 
vuelta (el Espanol, January, 1836), Carta a un amigo resident e 
en Paris. "What more characteristic than his choice of detail in 
describing his return ? 

I A. que he de volver? A mis antiguas mafias, amigo mio. Te confieso 
que no lo puedo remediar. jDiez meses sin murmurar! & Figaro diez 
meses sin curiosear los enredos de su barrio sin hacer la oposicion a nadie, 
sin criticar a comico viviente, sin probar un buen garbanzo, sin tomar 
una mediana jicara de legitimo chocolate, ni ver el sol de Castilla? 
jj, Figaro diez meses sin divisar una mantilla madrilefia, ni una palidez 
valenciana, ni un solo pie andulaz? Un ano casi sin pararse en la 
Puerta del Sol ni en otra puerta alguna embozado en la nube, sin ir al 
Cafe del Principe, sin asistir a una sesion del Estamento; diez meses, en 
fin sin ver una real orden, ni columbrar un procer? Eso es morirse, 
amigo, la vida que ustedes hacen. &Que a mi, tanta ciencia y tanta 
industria, tanto progreso, tanto teatro y tanto camino de hierro? 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LARRA, 1809-1837 10-3 

Coming to the main purpose of his paper, he continues : 

Hombres hay aqui que tienen ciencia, y la mayor por cierto, la ciencia 
del vivir; hombres que no pudieron llegar a saber en todo Paris ganar 
un real y que han hallado en Madrid a un dos por tres con que pasar una 
real vida- — &Que mas ciencia, ni que mas industrial Si es por progreso, 
amigo, esto va que vuela. Si por teatro, ^donde mas cosas que parezean 
lo que realmente no son? $D6nde hay nada mas parecido a un gobierno 
representative que el que rige felizmente a Espana en nuestros dias? 
^Donde hay telon que se parezca a un arbol ni comico que mas se asemeje 
a un principe, mas que lo que se parece un estatuto a una constitucion? 

With his Estatuto Real drawn on English lines, Martinez de la 
Eosa had been unable to establish the needed reforms in Spain. 
His successor, el Conde de Toreno (June 7 to September 14) in- 
curred the dislike of the people, and they rebelled against him 
and established juntas in each province so that they might govern 
themselves. 

It was after Toreno that there came into power the man whom 
Manuel Chaves styles : "el que llevo a cabo la obra de mas tras- 
cendencia, el mas honrado de nuestras politicos y el mas calum- 
niado y aborrecido por los reaccionarios, D. Juan Alvarez de Men- 
dizabal." He reorganized the army; gave greater liberty to the 
press ; suppressed the convents ; reassembled the Cortes so that the 
Estatuto Real might be modified ; and he would have accomplished 
much more if at this juncture the moderados, fearful of his power, 
had not risen against him. He could but offer his resignation 
which the queen, Maria Cristina, unwisely accepted. With the 
retirement of Mendizabal, the monarchical party was henceforth 
divided and with the formation of a new ministry headed by 
Isturiz (May 15, 1836), there began the struggle that later was 
to cost so much blood and so much pain. Civil war in 1836 
despite the death of the Carlist chieftain Zumalacarregui (June 
15), raged as hotly as in the years preceding. 

Larra's second letter to his Corr espousal in Paris under the 
title Buenas noches, had to deal with the disolucion of the Cortes 
and with ' ' otras varias cosas del dia. ' ' His third was the last, for 
on the accession to the ministry of D. Francisco Javier Isturiz, 
since el Espanol favored his administration, political criticism was 



106 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL SIVDIES 

abandoned. In the third Carta, however, under the heading 
Dios nos asista we have a memorable summary of Spain's con- 
stitutional history from 1812 to 1836 : 

He aqtii que una noche corre la voz de que se va a poner la consti- 
tucion del ano 12. ; Bravo! dije yo; esto es lo que se llama andar camino. 
Aqui no se sabe muiltiplicar, pero restar a las mil maravillas. Vamos a 
quien puede mas. El ano 14 vino el rey y dijo; quien de eatorce quita 
seis, queda en ocho. Vuelvan pues las cosas al ser y estado del ano 8. 
El ano 20 vienen los otros y die en: quien de veinte quita seis, queda en 
eatorce: vuelvan las cosas al ser y estado del ano 11. El ano 23 vuelve 
el de mas arriba y dice; quien de veinte y tres quita tres quede en veinte; 
vuelvan las cosas al ser y estado de febrero del ano 20. El ano 1836 
asoman los segundos. y estos quieren restar mas en grande: quien de 
trienta y seis quita veinte y cuatro queda en doce; vuelva todo al ano 12. 
Estos han pujado, si se exceptua el del Estatuto. que mas picado que 
nadie. cogio y lo rest 6 todo, y nos planto en el siglo XV. 

For a time Larra's publications were almost exclusively con- 
cerned with literary criticism. El Mundo, Diario del Pueblo. 
founded in June. 1836. by Santos Lopez Pelegrin (Abenamar) ; 
el Redactor General, first issued in November, 1836. whose motto 
was Isabel II. gooierno representative y libertad. together with 
el Espanol and la Be vista- Mensajero were the papers that had his 
last work. Xow appeared his criticisms of Dumas, including 
Hernani, Antony. Kaiherine Howard, and Margaret of Burgundy. 

Larra had been elected di put ado from the province of Avila 
on the ninth of August. 1836. The Cortes should have assembled 
on August 25. A new career seemed to be promised to the 
young representative now but twenty-seven years old. But on 
the night of August 12. there broke out at La Granja "el matin 
de los sargentos.'' The army proclaimed the Constitution of 1812 
and forced Maria Cristina to sign the decree of its publication. 
The ministry of Istiiriz fell, and on August 15 there was formed 
the new ministry under D. Jose Maria Calatrava. 

Definitely and finally, in his attempt at a criticism of Ochoa *s 
translation of Horas de invierno, we have his real opinion of this 
kind of work. "WTien earlier he had discussed don Juan Maria 
Maury's Espagne poetique. in which that writer in his Ghoix 
eh: poesies castillanes depuis Charles-quint jusqu' a nos jours had 



WBITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LA BE A, 1809-1837 107 

done into French work from the principal Spanish poets in 
the period indicated, he entered into a detailed analysis. But 
Ochoa's achievement is mentioned simply to be condoned; the 
critic is so cruelly impressed by the sorry situation of his country 
which makes translation rather than original work the order of 
the day, that he can find place for nothing but bitter lamentation. 
What else can be expected, he inquires, when ". . .las provincias 
virgenes de Espaiia han visto su velo desgarrado y profanado su 
seno que habian respetado los romanos y los godos, los hijos de 
Carlos Martel y los nietos de Omar, por las sangrientas manos 
de los liberales y de los carlistas?'' And even more hopelessly 
he continues: 

Y despues de estas reflexiones queremos violentar las leyes de la 
naturaleza, y pedir escritores a la Espaiia? Hay una armonia en las 
cosas del mundo que no consiente el desnivel; cuando en politica tenga 
Talleyranes o Periers, cuando en ciencias tenga Aragos, entonces tendra 
en literatura Chateaubrianes y Balzacs. 

Lloremos pues y traduzcamos, y en ese sentido demos todavia las 
gracias a quien se tome la molestia de ponernos en eastellano, y en buen 
castellano, lo que otros escriben en las lenguas de Europa; a los que. ya 
que no pueden tener eco se haeen eeo de los demas; no extraiiemos que 
jovenes de merito como el traductor de las Horas de invierno rompan su 
lira y su pluma y su esperanza. Que liaria con crear y con inventar ! 

The horrible nightmare En el cementerio: el dia de difuntos de 
1836, where all that should have made Spain a great country lies 
dead, ends with the saddest death of all : 

Era la noche. El frio de la noche helaba mis venas. Quise salir 
violentamente del horrible cementerio. Quise refugiarme en mi propio 
corazon, lleno no ha mueho de vida, de ilusiones, de deseos. 

i Santo cielo! ;Tambien otro cementerio! Mi corazon no es mas 
que otro sepulcro. eQue dice? Leamos. ^ Quien ha muerto en el? 
;Espantoso letrero! ;Aqui yace la esperanza! jSilencio, silencio! 

But in la Noche Buena de 1836, where in fancy his intoxicated 
servant speaks the black truth to Figaro, the despair is more 
personal . It is thus that he is addressed : 

Tu eres literato y escritor: y que tormentos no te hace pasar tu amor 
proprio, ajado diariamente por la indiferencia de unos, por la envidia de 
otros, por el rencor de muchos! Preciado de gracioso harias reir a costa 



108 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

de un amigo, si amigos hubiera, y no quieres tener remordimiento- 
Hombre de partido, haces la guerra a otro partido; cada vencimiento 
es una humillacion, o compras la victoria demasiado cara para gozar de 
ella. Ofendes y no quieres tener enemigos. |A mi quien me ealumnia? 
& Quien me conoce? Tu me pagas un salario bastante a cubrir mis necesi- 
dades; a ti te paga el mundo como paga a los demas que le sirven. Te 
llamas liberal y despreocupado, y el dia que te apoderes del latigo 
azotais hombres de honor y de caracter, y a cada suceso nuevo cambiais 
de opinion, apostatais de vuestros principios. Despedazado siempre por 
la sed de la gloria, inconsecuencia rara, despreciaras acaso a aquellos para 
quienes escribes y reclamas con el incensario en la mano su adulacion; 
adulado, y eres tambien despedazado por el temor y no sabes si manana 
iras a coger tus laureles a las Baleares o a un calabozo. 

Even more unbridled is his daring when he publishes in el 
Mundo, Figaro's message, A los redact ores del mundo. Having 
been questioned for his silence of some six months he makes 
answer : 

Yo soy Figaro: todo el mundo sabe quien es Figaro, y por si acaso 
alguien lo ignora, anadire que Figaro y Mariano Jose de Larra son tan 
una y carne como el diputado Argiielles y la constitucion del ano 12, y 
que no se puede herir al uno sin lastimar al otro. Juntos vivimos, juntos 
escribimos y juntos nos reimos de ustedes, de los demas y de nosotros 
mismos. 

Daremos mas senas; escribimos en el Mundo cuatro parafillos men- 
suales, donde a fuer de barberos podemos hacer la barba a cuatro parro- 
quianos al mes; escribimos en el Bedactor General, como habran visto los 
que lo lean por nuestro primer articulo, inserto en su numero de ayer; y 
todavia nos queda tiempo para redactar en el Espanol la seccion de 
teatros y de literatura; todo eso con nuestros correspondientes sueldos y 
porques asegurados por contrata que de eso vivimos y lo tenemos a muclia 
honra. 

Just before his criticism of the Amantes de Teruel there ap- 
peared his N ecrologia, written in memory of his young friend the 
Count of Campo-Alange, who gave his life and his great fortune 
to defend his country against her rebel sons, the Carlists. Even 
in this noble tribute, he could not check the final expression of 
his own despair : 

Ha muerto el joven noble y generoso, y ha muerto creyendo; la suerte 
ha sido injusta con nosotros, los que le hemos perdido, con nosotros cruel; 
jcon el misericordioso ! En la vida le esperaba el desengafio; jla fortuna 
le ha ofrecido antes la muerte! Eso es morir viviendo todavia; pero, 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 109 

j Ay de los que le lloran, que entre ellos hay muchos a quienes no es dado 
elegir, y que entre la muerte y el desengano tienen antes que pasar por 
este que por aquella, que esos viven muertos y le en vidian! 

The criticism of Hartzenbusch 's los Amantes de Teruel is 
acknowledged to be the last article written by Larra that was 
published during his lifetime. Well aware that the play whose 
theme bordered closely on that of his own drama might super- 
sede his Macias in the favor of the public, he none the less accords 
it generous praise. 

UNEXPECTED QUALITIES 

In writing of Larra, the greatest stress is rightly placed on 
his agudo ingenio. There are those who assert that he was en- 
tirely lacking in sentiment. Mesonero Romanos, for instance, 
mentioning the members of the group who frequented el Parna- 
sillo or the Cafe del Principe remarks: " . . . alii, Larra con 
su innata mordacidad que tan pocas simpatias le acarreaba. 22 

But Blanco Garcia makes the more sweeping statement : 

El orgullo y las malas lecturas secaron su alma dejandola esteril como 
un desierto, sin una inclinacion compasiva y generosa sin el menor residuo 
de amor a sus semejantes, envenenada por el egoismo y la misantropia. 
Con algo de Aristofanes y Rabelais y con mucho de Voltaire, siempre 
vemos en Larra al satirico engrandeciendose a expensas del hombre, y 
alia en el fondo de su corazon un vacio horrible, que no bastan a hacer 
simpatico o menos repulsivo todas las ingeniosidades del mundo.23 

No more beautiful contradiction to these opinions, correct in 
the main, can be found than the deep restrained feeling expressed 
in the concluding paragraphs of his Impresiones de un viaje : 

Era el 27 de mayo; el sol empezaba a dorar la campina y las altas 
fortificaciones de Badajoz; al salir salude el pabellon espanol, que en 
celebridad del dia ondeaba en la torre de Palmas. Media hora despues 
volvi la cabeza; el pabellon ondeaba todavia; el Cayo, arroyo que divide 
la Espana del Portugal, corria mansamente a mis pies; tend! por la ultima 
vez la vista sobre la Extremadura espariola; mil recuerdos personales me 
asaltaron; una sonrisa de indignacion y de desprecio quiso desplegar mis 
labios, pero sent! oprimirse mi corazon y una lagrima se asomo a mis 



22 Mesonero Romanos, op. cit., II, 59. 

23 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 337. 



110 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ojos. Un minuto despues la patria quedaba atras y arrebatado con la 
velocidad del viento, como si hubiera temido que un resto de antiguo 
afecto mal pagado le detuviera o le hiciera vacilar en su determinacion, 
(el) expatriado corria los campos de Portugal. Entonees el escritor de 
costumbres no observaba; el hombre era solo el que sentia. 

In la Caza, he makes vivid the pleasures of the chase as 
experienced on the estate of his young friend el Conde de Campo- 
Alange, and wearied of the stupid censorship of a yet more 
stupid government we feel the satisfaction of the sportsman as 
he pictures admirably: 

Esos hombres viven de la caza — barba crecida; las pestaiias y las 
cejas comidas de la intemperie, las manos y la cara como las de las fieras 
que persiguen, curtidas, sin pasiones, sin sentimientos, sin expresion; seres 
de los montes, sus facciones parecen rayas indeterminadas semejantes a 
la de la corteza de los arboles. No pregunte usted a este hombre si hay 
rey o reina en Madrid, si es carlista o liberal; sino, si hay caza en el 
monte. 

And the following spirited description of the chase itself makes 

us glad that one whose high courage was dashed by the continuous 

bickerings in which his unhappy country had involved him, and 

whose heart was filled with pain because of personal trouble, 

could here yield for a time to the healing influences of the open : 

A la mafiana con la aurora todo el mundo esta alerta; los corsarios y 
escopetas de pie y en rueda, hunden en un enorme caldero, despues de 
haberse santiguado, su cuchara de cuerno sin mango, sacan con ella una 
cucharada de migas, la cual haeen pasar a la mano y de esta a la boca; 
repetida esta operacion hasta apurar el caldero, todo el mundo se dirige 
al sitio donde se va a dar la batalla: un momento de confusion, nadie pide 
parecer, cada cual da el suyo: uno pide polvora, otro perdigones, otro 
postas por si sale algun res: en fin, se carga: los ojeadores, precedidos de 
un corsario, van a tomar la vuelta de la mancha o espesura designada, y 
a rodearla en tanto que las escopetas y cazadores, capitaneados por otro 
corsario inteligente, van a ocupar con el mayor silencio los puestos a la 
parte contraria: alii estatuas de si mismos y arboles entre otros arboles, 
esperan traidoramente a las victimas, que ahuyentadas y encaminadas a 
ellos por los palos y las voces de los ojeadores, vienen a ofrecerse al tiro, 
no teniendo otra salida que los puestos. Apurada una mancha se posa a 
otra, y asi sucesivamente. A media mafiana se comen unas naranjas y 
se echa un trago; a las tres o a las cuatro se recoge la gente a la casa, y 
se devora con apetito parte de la mortandad de la mafiana; con el bocado 
en la boca, y con todo el calor del sol, se vuelve a la caza, se cena, se suena 
con la caza, hombres y perros, y al dia siguiente'se repite la misma 
funcion. 



WRITINGS OF MABIANO JOSE DE LAEEA, 1809-1837 111 

Extraordinary depth of feeling breathes in the passage where 
Macias speaks to Elvira in el Doncel: 

Si fui imprudente, lo confieso, tu tuviste la culpa. &Por que no me 
inspiraste una de esas debiles pasiones, un amor pasajero de esos que es 
dado al hombre disimular, de esos que no se asoman a los ojos, que no 
hablan de continuo en la lengua del amante, de esos que pasan y se 
acaban, y dan lugar a otros? jAy! tu lo ignoras Elvira. Hay un amor 
tirano; hay un amor que mata; un amor que destruye y anonada como el 
rayo el corazon donde cae; que rompe y aniquila la existencia : y que es 
tan facil de encerrar, en fin, en lo profundo del pecho, como es facil 
encerrar en una vasija esos rayos del sol que nos alumbra. (Capitulo 27.) 

And in his criticism of Hartzenbusch 's los Amantes de Teruel 
written just before his own violent end, he is sincere when he 
writes : 

... Si oyese decir que el final de la obra es inverosimil, que el amor 
no mata a nadie, puede responder que es un hecho consignado en la 
historia; que los cadaveres se conservan en Teruel, y la posibilidad en los 
corazones sensibles; que las penas y las pasiones han llenado mas cemen- 
terios que los medicos y los locos; que el amor mata (aunque no mata a 
todo el mundo) como matan la ambicion y la envidia; que mas de una 
mala nueva al ser recibida ha matado a personas robustas instantanea- 
mente y como un rayo; y aun sera mejor en nuestro entender, que a ese 
cargo no responda, porque el que no lleve en su corazon la respuesta no 
eomprendera ninguna. Las teorias, las doctrinas, los sistemas se explican; 
los sentimientos se sienten. 



SOUECES OF LAEEA 'S DEAMAS 

Any attempt to determine the exact proportion of French in- 
fluence on the writings of Larra can result only in conjecture for 
the personal equation makes the problem impossibly subtle. Yet 
the reasons for such indebtedness are plain. Five early years of 
intimate association with the French left their impress. In the 
first place, they had caused the boy to forget his mother tongue 
and it was necessary to place him in the school of San Antonio 
Abad, so that he might relearn his Castilian. Besides, from his 
early knowledge of the French people he gained a sympathetic 
insight into their habits of thought that later gave him an im- 
mense- advantage over less fortunate Spanish writers when he 
attempted French criticisms or translations. Years later, in 



112 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Paris in 1835, when he had written a book in French descriptive 
of Spain 24 he wrote to his editor, Manuel Delgado, at Madrid : 

Habiendo gustado este ensayo de mis esfuerzos en frances, se me ha 
propuesto si quiero escribir algunos articulos en la obra periodica titulada 
Tableau de la peninsule que se esta publicando. He aceptado: Se pagan 
a 100 francos el pliego de impresion. Como ahora toda la atencion de 
Europa esta fija en Espana, un espanol ' que escribe correctamente en 
frances cosas de Espana, es un tesoro para ellos que no conocen eino 
imperf ectamente nuestro pais, y a mi no me causa molestia puesto que el 
frances fue mi primera lengua. 

Manuel Chaves perhaps makes the sanest estimate of Larra's 
attitude toward the French when he writes of him : 

Sentia admiracion sincera y entusiasta por la nacion francesa; su 
historia, sus hombres, sucolosal desenvolvimiento, eran objeto siempre 
de sus alabanzas. ' ' Escribir en Paris, ' ' decia, es escribir para la huma- 
nidad, dar a conocer un nombre en Francia es hacer que lo conozca el 
mundo entero. 

But there are other critics who are not so kindly. Galdos does 
not hesitate to write of him: "Educado en Francia, afectaba a 
veces desprecio de su nacion y la censuraba con acritud, que- 
jandose de ella como el prisionero que se queja de la estrechez 
incomoda de su jaula." 25 

Blanco Garcia, writes: 

Nada tan contrario, ya lo he dicho, a la benevola y complaciente 
sonrisa de Mesonero como el maligno sarcasmo que instintivamente asoma 
en la pluma de Larra, y que reconoce por causas su educacion, su caracter 
frances y volteriano puro, y el estado de la sociedad en que le toco vivir 
los cortos e infelices dias de su existencia. 26 

Larra's unconscious answer to the above may be found in his 
article En este pais, where he plainly sets forth his hopes : 

Si alguna vez miramos adelante y nos comparamos con el extranjero, 
sea para prepararnos un porvenir mejor que el presente, y rivalizar en 



24 Voyage pittoresque en Espagne en Portugal et sur la cote d'Afrique de 
T anger a Tetuan. Of the three volumes, the first contains the text; the 
other two are filled with pictures and explanations. The name of Baron 
J. Taylor appears as author. 

25 Perez Galdos, los Apostolicos, in Episodios nacionales, (3), X, 40-41. 

26 Blanco Garcia, op. cit., I, 337. 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LABBA, 1809-1837 113 

nuestros adelantos con los de nuestros veeinos; solo en este sentido 
opondremos nosotros en algunos de nuestros articulos el bien de fuera al 
mal de dentro. 

And certainly nothing could be more keenly mordaz than his 
criticism of French literary aims as embodied in the Antony of 
Alexander Dumas: 

Darnos la literatura de una sociedad caduca que ha corrido los 
escalones todos de la civilizacion humana que en cada estacion ha ido 
dejando una creencia, una ilusion, un engano feliz de una sociedad que, 
perdida la fe antigua, necesita crearse una fe nueva; y darnos la literatura 
expresion de esa situacion a nosotros, que no somos aun una sociedad 
siquiera, sino un campo de batalla donde se chocan los elementos opuestos 
que han de constituir una sociedad, es escribir para cien jovenes ingleses 
y franceses que han llegado a figurarse que son espanoles porque han 
nacido en Espafia, no es escribir para el publico. — Rara logica; ensefiarle 
a un hombre un cadaver para animarle a vivir. 

He aqui lo que hacen con nosotros los que quieren darnos la literatura 
caducada de la Francia, la ultima literatura posible, la horrible realidad; 
y hacennos mas dafio aim porque ellos al menos para llegar alia disfrutaron 
del camino y gozaron de la esperanza; dejennos al menos la diversion del 
viaje, y no nos desenganen antes; si al fin no hay nada, hay que buscarlo 
todo en el transito; si no hay un vergel al fin gocemos siquiera de las 
rosas, malas o buenas que adornan la orilla. — Antony, como la mayor parte 
de las obras de la literatura moderna francesa, es el grito que lanza la 
humanidad que nos lleva delantera, grito de desesperacion, al encontrar 
el caos y la nada al fin del viaje. La escuela francesa tiene un plan. 
Ella dice: "Destruyamos todo y veamos lo que sale; ya sabemos lo 
pasado, hasta el presente es pasado ya para nosotros; lancemonos en el 
porvenir a ojos cerrados; si todo es viejo aqui, abajo todo y reorganice- 
moslo. " 

Pero, ^y nosotros hemos tenido pasado? tenemos presented |,Que nos 
importa el porvenir? Que nos importa manana, si tratamos de existir 
hoy. Libertad en politica si, libertad en literatura, libertad por todas 
partes; si el destino de la humanidad es llegar a la nada por entre rios de 
sangre, si esta escrito que ha de caminar con la antorcha en la mano 
quemandolo todo para verlo todo, no seamos nosotros los tinicos privados 
del triste privilegio de la humanidad; libertad para recorrer ese camino 
que. no conduce a ninguna parte, pero consista esa libertad en tener los 
pies destribados y en poder andar cuanto nuestras fuerzas nos permitan. 
Porque asirnos de los cabellos, y arrojarnos violentamente en el termino 
del viaje, es quitarnos tambien la libertad, y asi es esclavo el que pasear 
no puede, como aquel a quien fuerzan a caminar cien leguas en un dia. 27 



2T Antony, in Ob. corny, de Fig., op. cit., II, 114-16. 



114 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

In his first Carta a Andres escrita desde las Batuecas por el 
Pobrecito Hablador, Larra offers the question: &No se lee en 
este pais porque no se escribe, o no se escribe porque no se lee ? ' ' 
and from his own pen we have a picture of the sorry lot of the 
man who writes for a livelihood : 

|Ves pasar aquel autor escualido de todos conocido? Dicen que es 
hombre de merito. Anda y preguntale: |,Cuando da usted a luz alguna 
cositaf "Vamos" — jCalle usted, por Dios! te respondera furioso como 
si blasfemases; primero lo quemaria, no hay dos libreros hombres de 
bien. Usureros. Mire usted, dias atras me ofrecieron una onza por la 
propiedad de una comedia extraordinariamente aplaudida, seiscientos 
reales por un Diccionario manual de geografia, y por un Compendio de 
la historia de Espaiia, en cuatro tomos, o mil reales de una vez, y que 
entrariamos a partir ganancias, despues de haber hecho el las suyas, se 
entiende ! ! ! j No, senor, No ! Si es el teatro, cincuenta duros me dieron 
por una comedia que me costo dos anos de trabajo, y que a la empresa 
le produjo doscientos mil reales en menos tiempo; y creyeron hacerme 
mucho favor. Y ve usted que salia por real y medio diario. jOh! y eso 
despues de muchas intrigas para que la pasaran y representaran. Desde 
entonces |,Sabe usted lo que hago? Me he ajustado con un librero para 
traducir del frances al castellano las novelas de Walter Scott, que se 
escribieron originalmente en ingles, y algunas de Cooper, que hablan de 
marina, y es materia que no entiendo palabra. Doce reales me viene a 
dar por pliego de imprenta, y el dia que no traduzco no como. Tambien 
suelo traducir para el teatro la primera piececilla buena o mala que se 
me presenta, que lo mismo paga y cuesta menos: no pongo mi nombre, 
y ya se puede hundir el teatro a silbidas la noche de la representacion. 
&Que quiere usted? En este pais no hay aficion a esas cosas. 

The above is sufficient explanation of the fact that of the nine 
plays of Larra that had been presented before his death, only 
one, Macias, a Drama historico en cuatro actos y en verso, can 
justly be called original. 28 



28 Macias, a historical character, was born in Padron, a town in Galicia, 
and served the Marquis of Villena as page. He loved a maid in the 
household of the Marquis and was loved in return. The two kept their 
affection secret. It was during the absence of Macias that the Marquis 
gave the girl in marriage to one of his knights. Macias on his return, 
knowing that the lady still loved him, sent her many amorous messages. 
At first he was reprimanded by the Marquis and later imprisoned in 
Arjonilla in the province of Jaen. In his captivity he still sang verses 
to his loved one- The enraged husband, hearing of this, followed him to 
Arjonilla and hurling his lance at his breast slew the lover as he sang. 
Macias 's body was buried with pomp and ceremony in the church of Santa 
Catalina de Arjonilla. (Curso-historico ; Critico de literatura espanola, por 
D. Jose Fernando-Espino, Sevilla, 1871.) 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE BE LAURA, 1809-1837 115 

This drama is an adaptation of Larra 's novel el Doncel de don 
Enrique el doliente, which was published in 1834, by D. Manuel 
Delgado as the second work in his series, Coleccion de novelas 
historicas originates espanolas, the first work being el Primo- 
genito de Albuquerque, written by D. Gregorio Perez de Miranda. 
D. Jose Blanco y Garcia calls Larra 's novel the best one in this 
collection printed by Repulles and, ranking the novel above the 
subsequent play Macias, he says further : 

El modelo de Larra no fue Walter Scott, a lo menos exclusivamente, 
antes parece haber.dado la preferencia a Dumas j a otros autores franceses 
aficionados a las grandes catastrofes de la historia j a los dramas mtimos 
del alma y para eso busco un asunto en que desbordara la pasion y 
chocaran violentamente los afectos y los intereses, sin detenerse ante la 
apologia franca del pecado. 

Larra in his novel has developed the characters and amplified 
the plot, making the hero 's death due to an effort to save the life 
of the lady. Furthermore, in transferring the novel to the stage, 
he necessarily had to make other changes. The action of the 
play Macias begins much earlier than that of the novel. The 
heroine 's marriage, which in the romance, has already taken place 
when the story opens, in the play occurs at the end of the second 
act. This is in order to make ready for the principal scene in 
Act III where the interview between the bride and Macias is 
interrupted by the entrance of the husband, Fernan Perez and 
D. Enrique de Villena. 

In an article in el Eco del Comerico, 29 we have an account of 
the first-night performance of Macias in the Teatro del Principe: 
"Los numerosos aplausos que arrancaron varias escenas del 
Macias son la mas cierta serial de que su autor ha sabido hacer 
que no se debilite en lo mas minimo el interes positivo y real 
que tenia antes de ser espectador de su drama." 

Macias was for a time frequently played but it gave way to 
such dramas as don Alvaro o la Fuerza del sino (March 22, 1835) 
of the Duque de Rivas; to Blanca de Borbon (June 7, 1835) 
of Gil y Zarate; to el Trovador (March 1, 1836) of Garcia Gu- 
tierrez and to los Amantes de Teruel (January 19, 1837) of 
Eugenio Hartzenbusch. 

29 El Eco del Comerico, Madrid, 26 de sept 6 ., 1834. 



116 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

The works of three French dramatists, Victor Henri Joseph 
Brahain Ducange (1783-1833), Augustin Eugene Scribe (1791- 
1861) and Jean Francois Casimir Delavigne (1793-1843), were 
the storehouses from which Larra drew the material for the other 
plays that he presented to Madrid audiences, generally disguis- 
ing his identity under the anagram Ramon Arriala. 

Un Desafio also may be based on a play from the pen of 
Ducange since the original is not found in the Scribe collection. 
It is a drama in three acts and in prose and was printed in 1840 
as "arranged by Ramon Arriala." It deals with English high 
life. In it a married lady's name is lightly and unjustly coupled 
with a certain nobleman. Her lover undertakes to fight a duel but 
because of his protracted parting from the lady he is late to the 
rendezvous, and we have the curious circumstance of the lady's 
husband unaware of the cause of the quarrel, fighting the duel 
so that his supposed friend's honor may not be challenged. 

The one known to be based on a work of Ducange is Roberto 
Dillon o el Catolico de Irlanda. The play ran for several months 
in the Coliseo del Principe, 1832. Larra styled it a "Melodrama 
en grande espectdculo en tres ados y en prosa." Here love strug- 
gles with religious belief; bigotry persecutes and villainy is 
punished only after the guiltless has died. In don Juan de 
Austria o la Vocacion (Delavigne), the engaging hero appears in 
the role of ardent lover, unwittingly the favored rival of his 
brother Philip II. The latter is undecided whether to mete out 
to his brother death or the perpetual seclusion of the cloister 
when their still powerful father Charles V intervenes in behalf 
of his bastard son, though the lady is forever denied him since 
she is of Jewish blood and none such may unite with a cristiano 
viejo. 30 

Larra was right in judging that the themes presented in these 
plays would find a sympathetic reception, and though none of his 
dramas are now played, they were popular in their day and still 
make pleasant reading. 

The remaining comedies are from the prodigious collection of 



so Cayetano Vidal y Valenciano in his Teatro selecto (VI, Barcelona, 
1868) gives C. Delavigne as the author of D. Juan de Austria. 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 117 

Eugene Scribe. It was at the instigation of Juan Grimaldi, 
"director o autocrata" of the Teatro del Principe, that Larra 
arranged the first of his adaptations and No mas mostrador 
was given in the Teatro de la Cruz on the evening of April 29, 
1831. It was styled comedia original but it is interesting to com- 
pare it with Scribe's play Les adieux au comptoir, comedie-vaude- 
ville en un acte en societe avec M. Melesville, given in the Theatre 
du Gymnase on the ninth of August, 1824. There is no doubt 
that Larra has taken this work for the first act of his five-act 
comedy. Omitting the songs into which each of the French char- 
acters burst forth and which lend an air of artificiality to the 
production, he has taken these same French characters and trans- 
formed them into living, breathing Spaniards. Though this may 
not be so great a feat as to create a comedy entirely from one's 
imagination, yet it is undeniable that it requires the keenest 
insight. Compare for instance, the colorless opening speech of 
Mme. Dubreuil: "Non, monsieur Dubreuil, je ne veux pas que 
nous restions plus longtemps dans le commerce. Voila vingt ans 
que je suis assise dans ce maudit comptoir, il me tarde d'en 
sortir," with the Spanish version, where at once a character is 
created who thinks and acts as a Spanish shopkeeper's wife 
should do. As dona Bibiana she reasons cases with her un- 
fortunate husband : 

Bibiana. 

&Y que tenemos con esta relacion tan larga de mi padre, y 
de mi abuelo y de mi . . .? Vaya que es gracioso. Si sefior, 
quiero dejar el comercio; Sabe Dios lo que la suerte me reserva 
todavia: verdad es que mi madre vendia botones; pero por eso 
mismo no los quiero vender yo . . . sobre todo, si yo conozco mi 
genio . . . y, vamos a ver, dime: |,que era la marquesa del En- 
cantillo, que anda desempedrando esas calles de Dios en un 
magnifico lando? A ver si su abuelo no era un pobre valenciano, 
que vino vendiendo estera, y se ponia por mas senas en un 
portal de la calle de las Eecogidas, hecho un pordiosero, que 
era lo que habia que ver. En fin, fuera cuestiones, Deogracias; 
te lo he dicho, no quiero mas comercio. Llevo ya viente y cuatro 
anos de medir sedas, de estirar a cotanza para escatimar un 
dedo de tela a los parroquianos, y de poner la cortina a la puerta 
para que no se vean las piezas - . . &que se yo? .... maldito 
mostrador; basta, basta, no mas mostrador. 



118 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Again, where in the French Mme. Dubreuil merely reiterates 
her unwillingness to sacrifice her daughter to a low marriage : 

Oui monsieur; parce que je ne veux pas sacrifier ma fille, 
parce que nous ne sommes point faites pour subir continuelle- 
ment 1 'humiliation du comptoir, 

we see the transformation in the speech of Bibiana : 

Bibiana. 

Bastante conocido le tenemos ya por tanto como nos has 
dicho de el; y es bien doloroso haber de dar mi hija a un hombre 
de su laya; para eso la tome yo el maestro de baile y de dibujo, 
y de f ranees, y de italiano; para eso la he estado yo pagando 
cuatro ahos seguidos al maestro de piano; hija mia de mis 
entrarias, jj, de que te sirve haber trabajado tanto, tantos af anes, 
cuando nunca podias dar eon la escala; para aprender el duo del 
Crociato, y el de la Semiramis, y el aria de la Donna, y todito 
el papel de la Cesari en el Osmi . . .1 todo, todo va a perecer 
en la humillacion del mostrador. 

In the French, the lover confesses to the father his love for 
the daughter whom he has seen at a ball, but Larra has the young 
man keep his secret since he is unaware of the identity of the 
girl he loves. With telling accuracy of detail that gives us the 
daughter's naive confession and the mother's sage counsel of 
experience, Larra closes his first act with a scene entirely original 
and entirely Spanish : 

Julia (daughter). 

El domingo cuando fuimos a misa estaba junto al Buen 
Suceso; yo le vi de reojo- en cuanto nos atisbo si viera usted que 
apretarse por entre la gente para estar a nuestro lado; al subir 
los escalones me tomo la mano ... 

Bibiana (the mother). 

4Y te la apreto? 



Julia. 



Si, senora; pero, yo hice como que me recataba de usted, y 
que no me gustaba, y la quite. A pesar de eso toda la misa 
estuvo mirando; yo haciendo como que no le veia, y todo era 
darle a usted con el pie, y usted pensando que la pisaba, hasta 
que tuve que dejarlo. Despues nos siguio, y sin duda al volver 
la calle hubo de perdernos de vista, porque yo no le volvi a ver; 
y no debe saber nuestra casa. 



WRITINGS OF MAM AN JOSE BE LARRA, 1809-1837 119 

Bibiana. 

Ya se ve tu tampoco proeuraria decirsela. 

Julia. 

;Yo! ;Yo! ^Corno quiere usted que le dijese? 

Bibiana. 

Si, senora/ hay modos de decir las cosas; por ejemplo, se 
dice: "Estoy tan cansada; hemos estado en el Prado, y como 
esta tan lejos de easa . . . ya se ve, la ultima de la calle Mayor, 
precisamente el numero tantos que eae tan alia . . . Entiendes? 



Julia. 



Si, Seiiora. 



The Frenchman, true to the unities, makes the absence of the 
nobleman of three hours' duration, and as a matter of fact, the 
count does not appear at all in Scribe's production. Larra ex- 
tends the interval to eight days. The pretty scene in the original 
where the supposed nobleman sings the joys of a merchant's life 
and where the girl gladly agrees to their charm is not used in 
Larra 's first act. In the French, the merchant lover, posing as 
the count, declares that on second thought he cannot marry 
the lady because her father is in trade. When this news is dis- 
closed to the girl her heart is broken and she avows with tears 
that were she noble and he the tradesman, she would stoop to 
him, so great is her love. At this juncture the happy suitor 
discloses his identity and the play ends leaving them all recon- 
ciled to remain behind the counter. 

In No mas mostrador, Larra has expanded this material, 
minus the happy ending, into two acts. The actual count appears 
in the third, bent on bringing to a successful finish his project of 
a marriage of convenience. However, as the girl has already, 
in the first act, admitted her genuine love for the merchant who 
she thinks is the count, the real nobleman is received as the un- 
desired tradesman and it takes the remaining two acts to unravel 
the tangle. Fitzmaurice-Kelly styles Larra 's play, No mas 
mostrador "imitacion extravagante de dos piezas francesas: 'Le 
portrait de Michel Cervantes (1820), de Miguel Dieulafoy (1762- 
1823) y Les adieux an comptoir. >> As has been stated Larra 
has expanded the one-act play Les adieux au camptoir into 



120 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

the first two acts of his play No mas mostrador. A careful read- 
ing of Dieulafoy's three-act comedy Le portrait de Michel Cer- 
vantes reveals no more salient point of resemblance with the 
remaining acts of No mas mostrador, than that of the mistaken 
identity of the two suitors and the presence of the officious ser- 
vants. As the confusing of personalities and the introduction of 
artful attendants are still stock devices of playwrights, it would 
seem that Larra may be permitted to make use of them without 
being said to have taken the idea from any one particular play. 

Tu amor o la Muerte appeared in print in 1833. It is prac- 
tically a literal translation, minus the interspersed songs in the 
original, of Scribe's Etre aime ou mourir, comedie-vaudeville 
en un acte en societeavec M. Dumanoir which appeared at the 
Theatre du Gymnase on March 10, 1835. 

Felipe, a comedy in two acts, appeared in 1833. It is "ar- 
ranged" from Scribe's Philippe, comedie-vaudeville en un acte 
en societe avec M. M. Melesville et Bayard, which was produced 
at the Theatre de S. A. B. Madame on April 19, 1830. 

In the opening scene of the French Philippe, the young 
heroine is pictured reading Tom Jones and comparing the hero 's 
fate with that of her aunt's young protege. As no engaging 
Spanish girl in Larra 's time would be reading Tom Jones in 
Spanish, Larra makes no mention of the title of the book, in- 
stinctively preferring abruptness to improbability. 

As the "hauts faits des D'Harville" become the "proezas 
de los Hurtados de Mendoza" ; as it is said of Philippe, "il nous 
a aidees a passer la frontiere," so "a Felipe debemos en cierta 
epoca el habernos salvado de algunos peligros" and as the 
Frenchman loses at cards "onze mille francs," so does the 
Spaniard exclaim at the loss of "veinte mil reales." These but 
translate the spirit rather than the letter, but in scene xxiii, the 
last in the one-act original, the lady says in an aside to Philippe : 
"Et de plus je ferai pour Frederic ce que je dois faire. Mais 
apres moi, Philippe," and Larra has interpreted it : " Y ademas, 
hare por Federico lo que debo hacer (bajo). Asi que se casen, 
Felipe, ahora no." 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 121 

From this point Larra has ventured to change the ending; 
whereas, in the French Mile. D'Harville does not disclose the 
fact that she is herself the mother of Frederic and that Philippe, 
her steward, is her husband and his father, the Spanish lady is 
so swept. away by her maternal emotion that she impulsively be- 
trays her secret to all present. The French lady is the more 
subtle but the Spanish mother is the more natural and loving. 
Here is the French ending : 

Mile. D'Harville (bas). 

Que je voudrais l'embrasser! 

Philippe (bas) 

Eh bien! qui vous en empeche? 

Mile. D'Harville (bas). 
Je n' ose pas. 

Philippe (bas). 

Vous n'osez pas! vous devez etre bien rnalheureuse! (a 
Frederic) Eh bien! non — mon cher — monsieur Frederic, vous 
voila avec une belle fortune, une jolie femme; comment, vous 
ne remerciez pas celle a qui vous devez tout cela? 

Frederic (baisant les mains de Mile. D'Harville). 
Ah! ma vie entiere ne suffira pas. 

Philippe (le poussant). 

Et non! morbleu, pas ainsi; dans ses bras — mademoiselle le 
permet. 

Mile. D'Harville (Pembrasse avec la plus vive emotion). 
Philippe, vous le suivrez. 

Philippe. 

Oui mademoiselle, je ne les quitte plus. 

Mile. D'Harville. 

Et quant a votre fortune. 

Philippe (avec ame). 

Moi ! je n 'ai plus besoin de rien, je suis heureux et plus 
riche que vous tous (lui montrant son fils et Matilde). Eegardez! 

But the more generous Spanish version reads : 

Isabel (the mother). 

jQue ganas tengo de abrazarle! 

Felipe (the father). 

$Y quien se lo impide a usted? 



122 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Isabel (bajo) 

No me atrevo- 
Felipe (id.) 

&No se atreve usted? ;Que desgraciada debe usted ser! 
Vaya (alto), Caballerito. &Que quiere usted mas? Ha hecho 
usted una bonita suerte; una mujer lindisima, cien mil reales 
de renta . . . $No da usted las gracias a quien tanto haee por 
usted? 
Felipe. 

Ah! mi vida no bastaria para . . . (besa la mano a dona 
Isabel). 
Felipe. 

Eh! No sefior, asi no (empujandole) Un abrazo;-la senora 
lo permite. 
Isabel. 

j Ah! (Le abraza) No resisto mas. jHijo mio! 
Federico. 

&Que dice usted? 
Matilda y vizconde. 
jSu hijo! 
Isabel. 

Si, amigos: ha llegado el momento de descubrir un secreto 
que ha estado a punto de exponernos a todos a una desgracia. 
Vuelve, hijo mio, a mis brazos, y tu, Felipe, basta de humilla- 
ciones; llega y ocupa para siempre el lugar que de dereeho te 
corresponde y que ha conquistado tu virtud. Felipe es mi esposo. 

Matilda y vizconde. 

I, Que dice usted? 
Isabel. 

Si; mas despacio podre explicaros este arcano; (a Felipe) 
Desde hoy solo tendras a tu cargo la felicidad de toda la casa. 

Felipe. 

Yo soy dichoso, mas dichoso que nadie; mirelos usted unidos; 
estos eran los deseos de Felipe; se han cumplido, y ya nada 
necesito. 

Partir a Tiempo was printed in 1835. It is translated from 
Scribe's La famille Riquebourg ou Le mariage mat assorti, 
comedie-vaudeville en un acte, represented at the Theatre du 
Gymnase, January 4, 1831. The text is practically unaltered 
though Larra displays his usual tact in the renaming of persons 
and places; the heat of Marseilles becomes that of Seville; "ce 
qu' il y avait de plus huppe et de plus fier dans le grand fau- 



WHITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LABBA, 1809-183? 123 

bourg, j'appris" qu'ils avaient ete mines a la revolution! a la 
premiere. . . . " is transcribed : 

Por desgracia era la hija de una condesa — farailia interminable, la 
mas encopetada que se paseaba poT el Prado . . . pero de alii a poco 
averiguo que era una casa arruinada el padre emigrado perseguido, ya 
se ve liberal. . . . En ano viente y cinco, confiscado por Calomarde. 

"La plus jolie et la plus aimable fille de Paris" is of course, "la 
muchaeha mas amable y mas bonita de Madrid." 

But no Spaniard who was not a master of the French tongue 
could have interpreted as Larra did, the uncouth husband's one 
complaint against his elegant wife : 

' - Par example, ' il n ' y a qu 'une chose qui m 'ait coute pour lui plaire, 
c'est de ne plus faire ce qu 'ils appellent des cuirs. A- t- il fallu du temps et 
de 1 'habitude! . . . c'est la seule tyrannie que ma femme ait excercee 
sur moi. M' empeeher de placer des t et des s a ma volonte c 'etait si 
absurde ..." 

Here is the Spanish counterpart : 

Solo una cosa me incomodaba al principio. Yo no habia de votar, no 
habia de jurar, no habia de deeir diferiencia, sino diferencia ;Vea usted 
ahora! &N0 soy yo el que hablo? glSTo tengo dinero? y si alguna vez 
se me escapaba alguna de esas tonterias, ya tenia encima a mi mujer, y a 
todos esos sefiorones que la visitan; jquerisas! j que algazara ! jPor vida 
de . . .! 

In his article entitled Filologia wherein he makes a plea for 
purity of diction, Larra does not refrain from heaping ridicule 
on his own first published efforts at translation : 

No hace mucho tiempo que vimos en la representacion de una comedia 
titulada No mas mostrador la frase siguiente: "Si el ridiculo que nos 
hemos echado encima no nos hace morir, " etc. Y en muchas partes 
vemos continuamente repetido este galicismo. 

i Que cosa es un ridiculo que se echa uno encima ! Xo se usa en castellano 
como sustantivo la voz ridiculo, ni quiere decir nada usada de esta 
manera. Si los jovenes que se dedican a la literatura estudiasen mas 
nuestros poetas antiguos, en vez de traducir tanto y tan mal, sabrian 
mejor su lengua, se ancionarian mas de ella, no la embutirian de ex- 
presiones exoticas no necesarias, y serian mas zelosos del honor nacional. 

But not even he can criticise his rendering of Scribe's well 
known comedy Bert rand et Raton ou L'art de conspirer which 
had appeared in the Theatre Frangais on November 14, 1833. 



124 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Copenhagen is the scene of this involved series of court intrigues. 
Larra has contented himself with renaming certain of the char- 
acters. Because of the nature of the play he has made no at- 
tempt to transfer them from their setting. It would seem in this 
case rather that he has chosen to show the finished perfection 
to which translation can be carried when the interpreter is an 
artist equally familiar with the two languages. El Arte de con- 
spirar, considered the best of the dramas translated, appeared 
first at the Teatro de la Cruz. It was printed in 1835. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS DEBT TO FBANCE 

Mesonero, when anxious to prove that his own writings under 
the pen name el Curioso Parlante antedated and were distinct 
from those of Figaro, does not hesitate to say that the intent of 
Larra was principally to satirise definite political times and 
persons, whereas he, el Curioso Parlante, kept himself always 
within the limits of gay and simple pictures of society in its 
normal state "procurando al describirla corregir con blandura 
sus defectos." 31 

It is interesting to note how D. Antonio Canovas del Castillo 
has ruthlessly set aside these claims to originality on the part of 
el Curioso Parlante. Citing el Dia de fiesta por la manana y 
por la tarde of Juan de Zabaleta he shows that as far back as 
1666 articles on customs were being written and that Mesonero 
Romanos had merely revived old forms and old subjects. 

Dwelling on the matter still further, he gives the credit of 
precedence for the modern articles on customs to the Frenchman, 
de Jouy, and says: 

Es includable, que Estebanez, Mesonero y Larra conocian al ponerse a 
escribir " L'hermite de la chaussee d' Antin" coleecion de articulos, que en 
su mayor parte publico un cierto de Jouy en Paris durante el primer Im- 
perio. Citalo Mesonero al comenzar su articulo intitulado El Aguinaldo, 
para facilitar quiza la comparacion con el que denomino el autor frances 
les Etrennes, haciendo asi patente la originalidad de los suyos propios aun 
tratandose de asunto identico; pero bien que esta originalidad de nuestro 



3i Mesonero Eomanos, op. cit., II, 85. 



WEITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LAEEA, 1809-1837 125 

escritor sea incontestable, echase al punto de ver que eon distintos mate- 
rials y traza distinta, pertenecen ambas fabricas a un mismo orden 
arquitectonico. 

He is even more severe in his arraignment of Larra for he con- 
tinues : 

Larra por su lado cita a de Jouy tambien en su articulo denominado 
el Album y descubiertamente traduce alii un breve trozo de sus obras; 
lo cual no es nada para lo que toma sin decirlo de ellas, incurriendo en 
verdaderos plagios. Se encuentra en tal caso su articulo intitulado la 
Diligencia sacado de la Cour des messageries, en mucha parte; y casi otro 
tanto cabe decir de el Duelo, le Duel del escritor frances. Acaso tuvo 
tambien presente Larra en sus articulos de satira politica, pues los que 
escribio o mas bien imito de costumbres fueron pocos, a otro escritor de 
mucho mas fuste que de Jouy, es a saber, al caustico autor del Pamphlet 
des pamphlets, y tantas epistolas y articulos todavia mas que por su 
fondo donosos por su estilo, el cual hace el nombre de Paul Louis Courrier 
uno de los mas estimados todavia en la literatura francesa. Pero de todos 
modos Mesonero y Larra confiesan que habian leido a de Jouy, y aunque 
no lo confesaran, es clarisimo que este fue quien les sirvio de modelo entre 
los extrarios, y que no otro sino el puso a la moda en Europa los pequerios 
cuadros literarios de que Mesonero hizo profesion tomando por tema, 
ahora la expresion de ciertos personajes tipicos, ahora la representacion 
de populares usos y de fiestas nacionales. 32 

But Larra himself owns his debt to French writers, when he 
openly calls the first article of his el Pobrecito Hablador i Quien 
es el Publico y Donde se le encuentre? an Articulo robado." 
Again he plainly indicates as a quotation the paragraph from 
de Jouy's writings, 33 used in his own sketch el Album and clearly 
states in a footnote that the author of De 1830 a 1836, is Charles 
Didier, and though he has so frequently corrected the data in 
the original that the paper might more justly be considered the 
work of his own pen, he makes no mention of the errors found, 
but rather gives unstinted praise to the foreigner : 

Como reseria historica, su verdad le hace acreedor a ocupar un lugar 
distinguido entre los documentos de que la historia se servira un dia 



32 Canovas del Castillo, El Solitario y su tiempo, I, 13&-49. 

ss Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy (1764-1846) published in the Gazette 
de France a series of satirical sketches of Parisian life collected under 
the title of L'hermite de la chaussee d' Antin on Observations sur les moeurs 
et les usages francais au commencement du XIX e siecle. It was published 
in five volumes (1812-14), and was warmly received. 



126 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

para redactar la cronica de nuestra gloriosa revolucion; eomo escrito 
filosofico politico, las justas reflexiones de su autor Carlos Didier, y la 
interesante galeria de personajes publicos que traza, le colocan en primer 
rango entre las producciones de esa especie que la Europa ve diariamente 
apareeer acerca de las cosas de Espana. 

It is interesting too, to note the difference in his attitude 
from that of Mesonero as regards the writings of articles on 
customs. In the two papers wherein he discusses the letters 
Panorama matritense and wherein he sums up the whole history 
of this particular phase of literature, he makes mention seemingly 
as a matter of course, of de Jouy's contribution to Mesonero 's 
success: "el senor Mesonero ha estudiado y ha llegado a saber 
completamente su pais; imitador felicisimo de Jouy, hasta en su 
mesura, si menos erudito, mas pensador y menos superficial ha 
llevado a cabo, y continua una obra de dificil ejecucion." And 
not deigning to consider the question of whether he or Mesonero 
has the better claim to priority in the production of this class 
of writings he closes his criticism of the Panorama matritense 
with a statement that may be taken in good faith as his actual 
attitude toward his own efforts: 

Escritores nosotros tambien de costumbres, ramo de literatura en que 
comenzamos a publicar nuestros humildes ensayos casi al mismo tiempo 
que el Curioso Parlante, si no pretendemos haber alcanzado igual grado de 
perfeccion tenemos si la persuasion de poder mejor que otros apreciar las 
dificultades del genero. . . . Los laureles ajenos pueden estimularnos, 
no inspirarnos un sentimiento innoble capaz de oscurecer a nuestros ojos 
el merit o de los que recorren nuestra misma carrera. jj,Como pudiera ser 
de otra suerte? El amor al bien y el deseo de contribuir en lo poco que 
podemos a la mayor ilustracion de nuestro pais, nos mueve mas a escribir 
que la sed de una gloria que tan dificil sabemos es de conseguir. En 
este supuesto, no vemos nunca en una obra feliz la gloria que su autor 
puede adquirir; nos consideramos con el resortes de una misma maquina; 
el honor que sobre el racae renuye sobre la clase entera; ni son tantos 
en Espana los que presentan titulos a la consideracion general que puedan 
estorbarse. 

The doubt may arise here for a moment as to whether Larra 
is entitled to the high place in Spanish letters that has been 
assigned him. It is true that he owed his articles on customs to 
de Jouy; his satirical sketches were suggested by those in the 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 127 

Pamphlet des pamphlets of Paul Louis Courrier; the Be 1830 
a 1836 is a transcription from Charles Didier ; some fifty pages 
of his collected works are occupied with el Dogma de los hombres 
libres o Talabras de un creyente, which is his translation of the 
famous work of Hugues Felicite Robert de Lamennais (1782- 
1854) ; and all of his dramas, with the exception of Marias, are 
either out-and-out translations or else adaptations from the 
French; even in the case of Macias, the plot is taken from his- 
tory. But his fame does not rest on these articles borrowed, 
greatly as he has improved on the originals. As for the trans- 
lations, his grim statement quoted above : "el dia que no tra- 
duzco no como" makes us see the intolerable necessity that drove 
him to exercise his talents where the results would be swift and 
certain. Manuel Chaves, has given us the reason why Larra's 
glory is undimmed : 

Desde la alteza de su genio, miraba Larra en torno suyo, con mirar 
que llegaba a lo hondo, y al burlarse de los desaciertos del politico, del 
autor de comedias que pervertia el gusto, de los comicos torpes y ado- 
eenados, de las ridiculeces sociales y de las malas costumbres, no era 
posible hallar en sus escritos las palideces de el Curioso Parlante, las 
afectaciones de D. Antonio Flores, el monotono atildamiento de el Estu- 
diante, las vaguedades de " Aoendmar," j tantos otros defectos de bulto, 
como reconoce la critica, en aquellos escritores de costumbres que a la 
par de Figaro cultivaron con el el genio. 34 



34 Chaves, D. Mar. J. de Larra (Figaro), p. 55. 



128 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PEIMAEY SOUECES 

Chronological List of the Editions of Larra's "Works 

Larra, Mariano Jose de 

Figaro; Coleccion de artieulos dramaticos, literarios, politicos y de 
costumbres . . . publicados por D. Mariano Jose *de Larra. 4 vols. 
Madrid, 1835-37. 

These various groups of articles were published under the 
pseudonym of Figaro in el Pobrecito Hdblador, la Eevista Espanola, 
el Observador, la Eevista-Mensajero, and el Espanol, during the 
years 1832 to 1836. 

El Doncel de don Enrique el doliente; historia caballeresca del siglo 
XV . . . 2 vols, in 1, illustrated. Madrid, 1852-54. 

An illustrated edition published in Madrid by the editors Urra- 
bieta and Martinez. Besides a list of the subscribers to the edi- 
tion, the book contains a full page portrait of Larra and a prologue 
written by his son, Luis Mariano de Larra. 

Obras completas de Figaro. In Coleccion de los mejores autores 
espafioles. Vols. 47, 48. Paris, 1883. 

This is an exact textual reproduction of the Madrid edition of 
Yenes published in 1843, which was the earliest edition of Larra's 
writings relatively complete. Both editions contain the biography 
of Larra by C. Cortes. 

Coleccion de artieulos escogidos con un prologo por J. Yxart. Barce- 
lona, 1885. (Biblioteca clasica espanola.) 

The prologue by J. Yxart is of a critical and biographical nature. 

French Sources 

Dieulafoy, J. M. A. M. 

Le portrait de Michel Cervantes; suite du repertoire du Theatre Francais 
par M. Lepeintre. Vol. 47. Paris, 1823. 

Lamennais, H. F. E. de 

Paroles d'un croyant. In Oeuvres completes. Vol. 2. Bruxelles, 1839. 

Scribe, A. E. 

Les adieux au comptoir (2) XIII; Bertrand et Eaton (1), II; Etre aime 
ou mourir (2), XXVII; Philippe (2), XX; Famille Eiquebourg (2), 
XXI. In Oeuvres completes. Paris, 1874-85. 

Beaumarchais, P. A., C. de 

Le barbier de Seville; Le mariage de Figaro. In Oeuvres completes. 
Paris, 1876. 



WRITINGS OF MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA, 1809-1837 129 



SECONDAEY AUTHOEITIES 

Altamira y Cervea, Eafael 

De historia y arte. Madrid, 1898. 
Historia de Espana. Barcelona, 1900. 

Blanco GarcIa, P. Francisco 

La Literatura espanola en el siglo XIX. 3 vols. Madrid, 1844-1903. 

Canovas del Castillo, Antonio 

El Solitario y sn tiempo; biografia de D. Serafin Estebanez Calderon, 
y critiea de sus obras. In Coleccion de escritores eastellanos. 2 vols. 
Madrid, 1883. 

Chaves, Manuel 

D. Mariano Jose de Larra (Figaro) ; su tiempo, su vida, sus obras, . . . 
Sevilla, 1898. 

Hume, M. A. S. 

Modern Spain, 1788-1898. New York, 1900. 

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James 

Historia de la literatura espanola. Madrid, 1916. 

Lomba y Pedraja, Jose E. 

M. J. de Larra (Figaro) como escritor politico. In La Lectura, January 
and February issues, 1918. 

Martinez Euiz, Jose. 

Larra y Ganivet: Nuestro tiempo. Madrid, 1909. 
Lecturas espanolas. Madrid, 1912. 

The book is dedicated to the memory of Larra; the collection of 
articles includes one entitled, Larra y Mesonero (pp. 117-21), and 
another entitled, Larra (pp. 145-55), which sketches briefly the 
satirist's life and policy. 

Eivas y Larra. Madrid, 1916. 

La Voluntad. Barcelona, 1902. 

In chapter 9 (pp. 231-37), "Azot^i" sounds the highest note 
in praise of Larra. Here he styles him, sixty-four years after his 
death, "acaso el hombre mas extraordinario de su siglo y el que 
mejor encarna este espiritu castellano. " 

Menendez y Pelayo, Marcelino 

Antologia de poetas liricos eastellanos desde la formacion del idioma 
hasta nuestros dias. Madrid, 1890-1908. 

Mesonero Eomanos, Eam6n de 

Memorias de un sententon natural y vecino de Madrid. 2 vols. Madrid, 
1880. 



130 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Perez Galdos, Benito 

Bailen; el 19 de marzo y el 2 de mayo (1), II; Juan Martin el Em- 
pecinado; la Batalla de los Arapiles (1), V; Zumalaearregui (3), I; 
Mendizabal (3), II; los Apostolicos; un Faceioso mas y algunos 
frailes menos (3), X. In Episodios nacionales. Madrid, 1882-1911. 

Pineyro, Enrique 

El Eomanticismo en Espana. Paris, 1904. 

Zorrilla y Moral, Jos£ 

Becuerdos de un tiempo vie jo. Madrid, 1882. 
Obras dramaticas y lirieas. Madrid, 1895. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSI 

FICATION OF THE SIGLO DE 0R0. 

ALARCON AND MORETO 



BY 
S. GRISWOLD MORLEY 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFI- 
CATION OF THE SIGLO DE OBO. 
ALAR CON AND MORETO 



BY 

S. GEISWOLD MOELEY 



In a search for an objective criterion by which it might be 
possible to distinguish the works of different authors of comedias, 
and to differentiate their likes and dislikes in the choice of a 
poetic vehicle of expression, I have already examined in some 
detail the strophic structure of all the extant plays of Tirso de 
Molina. 1 Such an investigation can be of value only if it is com- 
parative. If the dryness of the technique does not overcome all 
the zest of discovery, I hope in time to obtain a definite view of 
the entire field of the siglo de oro which may establish a basis 
for a real knowledge of the historical development of the use of 
the various verse forms from Juan de la Cueva to Bances Can- 
damo and Caiiizares. I am more than ever convinced that the 
theory which I advanced in the previous articles has a founda- 
tion in fact: that each author had his favorite meters, and his 
favorite forms of the more flexible meters. It is for us to attempt 
to penetrate the secret of their predilection. 

For the present I have chosen as material twenty-four plays 
of Alarcon, his entire extant repertory, and the thirty of Moreto 



i S. G. Morley, The use of verse-forms (strophes) oy Tirso de Molina, 
Bulletin Mspanique, VII (1905), 387-408; El TJso de las combinaciones 
metricas en las comedias de Tirso de Molina, ibid., XVI (1914), 177-208. 
These should be consulted for a description of the various meters which 
it would be idle to repeat here. 



132 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

which are included in volume 39 of the Biblioteca de autores 
espanoles. After deriving from these the characteristics of the 
authentic comedias of these writers, I shall try to use the knowl- 
edge so gained in discussing a few plays of doubtful attribution. 

I give the analyses in a somewhat fuller form than before. 
It is possible in the present tables to learn at a glance the length 
of each separate passage of a certain meter, and to examine each 
act by itself. The assonance of each romance laisse is also 
furnished. 

I have not thought it worth while to figure percentages for 
any meters except romance and redondilla. These are the only 
ones which are practically certain to be found in every play. The 
others are as likely to be absent as present, and are not governed 
by any law in which the percentage is of importance. Only con- 
fusion would result from additional figures. 

The numbers (1°, 2°, etc. ), below the figure for each passage 
of silva, indicate the type of silva, as described below (pp. 
141-143). 

Brackets joining two passages of romance indicate that there 
is no other meter intervening between the two laisses. This prac- 
tice was decidedly rare in Lope and Tirso, but increased, natur- 
ally, with the broadening use of romance toward the end of the 
siglo de oro. Matos Fragoso, for example, frequently placed 
three laisses in conjunction. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DEAMATIC VEESIFICATION 



133 



I. Alarc6n, 1580?-1639 



Table 1. — Comedias of Alarcon 





a 
o 
•a 


c 


S 


a 
£ 


c3 
> 


c3 
> 
09 


C 


c 
u 




Title 




3 


fi 


o 


02 


O 


o 
0Q 


En 


Miscellaneous 


La Amistad 




















castigada 


28 






56 e-o 












2824 


76 
556 






124 i-a 












Act II 


36 

96 

420 




180 




126 
2° 




14 




Sc. iii; lira, 76; 
ABABCC 


Act III 


476 
212 






90i-o 
258 a-o 












Total, 


1900 
70% 




180 


528 
19% 


126 




14 






El Antieristo 


36 






96 e-o 




232 






Lira, 6; aBaBCC 


2616 


160 

48 
4 






122 e-a 
98o-a 








82 




Act II 


80 
178i 




90 


52 a-e 
108 i-a 

30 i-a 


107 

2° 
167 








Pp. 366-67; prose 
selections from a 
book 


Act III 


920 
















P. 369; song, 18 


Total, 


1426 
54% 




90 


506 
19% 


274 


232 




82 




La Crueldad por 




















el honor 


200 




70 


360 o-e 




120 






Sc. xi-xii; lira, 108; 


3016 


20 
128 

8 






72o-a 










abbacC 


Act II 


400 
176 






322 u-a 










Sc. iii; two prose 
letters 


Act III 


152 
292 
240 




20 


200 a-a 










Sc. iii-iv; sueltos, with 
many couplets, 128 


Total, 


1616 
53% 




90 


954 
31% 




120 









P. 366b, one redondilla has 6 lines. 



134 



LITERABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 1 — (Continued) 





xi 


g 


'3 


a 


> 


cS 





w 


Title 




3 


ft 


o 


3 


O 


O 


Eh Miscellaneous 


La Cueva de 


















Salamanca 


236 


130 




118 a-o 


100 


64 




73 


2757 


112 

28 






116 e-a 


2° 








Act II 


308 
200 

88 






180 i-o 
110 a 










Act III 


88 
52 
80 
80 






80 i 
20 a-o 
364 e-a 








P. 96&; lira, 42; 

ABbACC 

Pp. 97-98; sueltos, 

with many couplets 

88 


Total, 


1272 

46% 


130 




988 
35% 


100 


64 




73 


La Culpa busca 


















la pena 


148 






224 a-a 


128 








2650 


460 








2° 








Act II 


60 
136 

44 




120 


196 e 
124 i o 
234 eo 










Act III 


332 
4 






288 a-a 
142 o-a 










Total, 


1194 

45% 




120 


1208 
45.5% 


128 








El Desdiehado 


















en fingir 


472 






168 e-a 









Sc. vii; one prose 


2809 


276 














letter 


Act II 


396 

88 

328 

56 

36 


40 


10 


28 6 




-~ 





Sc. xi; sueltos, 11 


Act III 


652 






66e-o 

182 a-o 








Sc. xv; one prose 

letter 


Total, 


2304 

82% 


40 


10 


444 
15% 










El Dueno de 


















las estrellas 


412 






138 e-a 




112 




Sc. vii; song, 12 


2636 








• 226 a-e 










Act II 


88 
88 




230 


340 e-o 










Act III 


492 
116 

128 







160 i-o 
92 e-a 






14 


Sc. viii; prose laws 


Total, 


1324 

50% 




230 


956 
36% 




112 


14 





STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



135 









Table 1— 


(Cont 


inued) 




a 










a 




— 


03 




O 




*H 




^ 


— 


3 


a 




e3 








9 




























o 


a 


> 










>CJ 








Title 


M 


G? 


Q 




02 


o 


Los Emperios de 














un engano 


876 












2769 Act II 


100 

280 




230 


54 e-o 


265 

2° 




Act III 


244 
192 






208 e 
320 i-o 






Total, 


1692 
61% 




230 


582 
21% 


265 




El Examen de 














maridos 


180 




160 


162 a-o 






2801 


288 












Act II 


152 

572 






150 o-a 
86 e-o 






Act III 


252 
344 






312 e-o 


71 

2° 


72 


Total, 


1788 
64% 






710 
25% 


71 


72 


Los Favores del 














mundo 


448 


180 


50 


152 e-a 






3292 


108 






108 i-o 






Act II 


572 
68 


235 








168 


Act III 


120 
236 

100 


260 




1541 

68o-e 
152 6 






Total, 


1652 
50% 


675 
20% 


50 


634 

19% 




168 


Ganar amigos 


252 






198 a-o 






2852 


56 
252 






188 a-e 






Act II 


268 
264 






348 i-a 






Act III 


88 
708 






56 6 






Total, 


1888 
66% 






790 

28% 







14 



14 



28 



E-i Miscellaneous 

Sc. xiv; one prose 

note 

97 

97 

Sc. i-ii; pareados of 

11, 54 
Sc. v; lira, 120; 

aBaBCC 
Sc. viii; one prose 

proclamation 



136 



LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 1 — (Continued) 





Tl 


a 


'3 


B 


t « 


a 


o 




Title 


ti 




A 


o 


w O 


o 

TJ1 


EH 


Miscellaneous 


La Industria y 


















la suerte 


124 


160 


30 












2931 


328 
324 
















Act II 


52 
164 
124 

72 


170 
10 


130 
10 


238 e-o 






67 


Sc. viii, 8 lines, thus: 
abBABACC 8's 
and 11 's 


Act III 


48 

184 

92 


5 

5 
5 
5 




216 a-o 

74a-e 

220 a-o 








Sc. ii; lira, 66; 
ABaBcC 


Total, 


1512 

51% 


360 


170- 


748 
25% 






67 




La Manganilla 


















de Melilla 


268 


135 




S 170 e-a 






106 


P. 205c, one prose 


2772 








} 132 u-a 








letter 


Act II 


580 
312 




10 


164 o-o 










Act III 


160 
172 
140 

40 






20a-e 
124 e-o 
156 i-o 

94 e-a 










Total, 


1672 
60% 


135 


10 


860 

31% 






106 




Mudarse por 


















mejorarse 


608 






80i-a 










2855 


252 

148 




160 


158 a-a 










Act II 


167 








132 








2° 










260 
















Act III 


228 
16 

184 
52 




80 


160 e-o 
62 a-o 




14 


94 


Sc. i; one prose letter 
Sc. iv; one prose letter 


















Total, 


1880 
65% 




240 


460 
16% 


167 


14 


94 




No hay mal que 


















por bien no venga 112 






114 i-o 










2796 


720 
















Act II 


984 
















Act III 


32 
124 






206 6 
148 o-a 


346 

2° 








Total, 


1972 

70% 




_.... 


468 
17% 


346 




. 





STUDIES IN SPANISH BE AM AT IC VERSIFICATION 



137 



Table 1 — {Continued) 





c5 










c3 

a 










r3 


c3 




« 




H 




02 






a 
o 

T3 


fl 


c3 

a 

5 


c3 

a 


c8 
> 


03 
> 
03 




O 




Title 


0> 

8 


3 




O 


'w. 


o 


o 
w 




Miscellaneous 


Las Paredes 




















oyen 


316 






860-0 






17 a 




Sc. x; lira, 78; 


2959 


112 

284 
156 
















ABaBCC 


Act II 


156 

4 

60 

164 
60 
56 




180 


128 a-o 
100 o-e 










Sc. xiv; songs, in 
various meters, 
including one 
seguidilla 


Act III 


416 
144 

64 

44 

120 




10 

10 
20 


100 e-a 
54 a-a 












Total, 


2176 
73% 




220 


468 
15% 






17 






Los Pechos 




















privilegiados 


292 




40 














2836 


500 


















Act II 


72 

44 

212 






196 e-o 
136 i-o 


104 

2° 


104 






Sc. vii; song, 9 lines 


Act III 


72 
260 


50 




S 320 a-o 

\ 100 e-o 

212 o-e 












Total, 


1452 
51% 


50 


40 


1086 
38% 


104 


104 








La Prueba de 




















las promesas 


244 


70 


60 


314 e-a 










Sc. v; 6-syllable 


2631 


180 
















assonants in e-o, 36 
Sc. vi; lira, 42; 
abbacC 


Act II 


204 

380 
12 


120 






56 

2° 




28 






Act III 


248 
136 

28 






140 a-a 
168 e-o 


65 
3° 






100 




Total, 


1432 

54% 


190 


60 


622 

23% 


121 




28 


100 





2 Sc. viii ; last tiercet is repeated in burlesque. 



138 



LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 1 — (Continued) 





a 

o 

H3 


a 




c3 

a 


c3 

> 


> 

c3 




15 

o 




Title 


tf 


3 


Q 


o 


w 


O 

O 


o 

XJ1 


03 


Miscellaneous 


Quien engana 




















mas a quien 


372 


140 




244 e-a 










Sc. vi; one prose 


2654 


88 
















letter 


Act II 


380 
332 






140 a-e 


120 

2° 










Act III 


32 

380 

12 




80 


186 a-a 
112 a-o 











Sc. xx; lira, 36; 
ABaBCC 


Total, 


1596 
60% 


140 


80 


682 

25% 


120 










Quien mal anda, 




















en mal acaba 


72 






86o-e 












2723 


872 


















Act II 


744 




140 














Act III 


236 
176 

188 






100 e-o 


109 

2° 










Total, 


2288 
84% 




140 


186 

6% 


109 










El Semejante a 




















si mismo 


52 






208 a-a 






14 


103 


Sc. vi-vii; 5 lines of 


2974 


72 
220 
276 






80 a-e 


8 


40 






7 and 11, in 
connection with a 
romance in a-o 


Act II 


496 
136 


70 


150 


104 u-e 
92 i 












Act III 


428 

172 

92 






132 e-a 


96 

2° 


48 








Total, 


1944 
65% 


70 


150 


544 
18% 


96 


48 


14 


103 




El Tejedor de 




















Segovia 


288 






220 i-o 












2917 


76 

84 






134 e-o 
140 o-a 












Act II 


76 

204 

16 






106 i-a 

52 6 
138 a-a 


147 

2° 








Sc. iv; song, 4 lines 
Sc. xi; 6-syllable 
assonants in a-e, 246 


Act III 


244 

184 






126 o-o 

94 o-a 

206 e-o 




136 








Total, 


1172 

40% 






1216 
41% 


147 


136 









STUDIES IN SPANISH DBAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



139 









Table 1 — i 


[Continued) 


Title 


c3 

a 

© 


<y 


c3 

a 

o 

Q 


o 

S 
c3 

E 
o 


Silva 
Octava l'ima 


Todo es ventura 


308 






86 o-e 




2800 


548 










Act II 


148 

80 

264 


130 


100 


228 i-a 




Act III 


600 
128 






92u-a 


88 


Total, 


2076 

74% 


130 


100 


406 
14% 


88 


La Verdad 












sospechosa 
3112 


664 

88 
76 


80 




208 e-a 




Act II 


192 

12 

420 


75 




S 128 e-o 
\ 208 o-e 




Act III 


324 
192 




50 


258 a-a 
64o-a 




Total, 


1968 
63% 


155 


50 


866 

27% 





Miscellaneous 



73 
73 



Sc. i; one prose letter 



Alarcon 's plays average about 2750 lines in length, a much 
less number than Tirso's. His shortest play is el Anticristo 
(2616), his longest, los Favores.del mundo (3282). Tirso's, it 
may be recalled, swing between 2,336 and 4179 lines. The 
thoughtful, well-regulated spirit of Alarcon followed a less un- 
even road. 

The same orderly habit of mind is visible in his versification, 
far more monotonous than Tirso's, though not so stereotyped as 
it became in the days of decadence. Tirso is a redondillista, that 
is, he employs redondillas preferably and nearly always in 
greater number than any other meter ; but Alarcon is a redon- 
dillista empedernido. For the sake of comparison, let us re- 
member that with Tirso the per cent of redondillas ranges from 



140 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

77 to 21, and stands commonly at from 35 to 55. The romance 
verses run from 60% (very exceptional) to 10, and seldom pass 
beyond 35%. Now, in Alarcon, the redondilla is to a far greater 
extent the prevailing meter, and the romance is employed much 
less, as will appear from these figures: 

Redondilla, highest, 82%. (El Desdichado en fingir.) 
Redondilla, lowest, 40%. (El Tejedor de Segovia.) 
Romance, highest 45.5%. (La culpa ousca la pena). 
Romance, lowest, 6%. (Quien mal anda en mat acaba.) 
Seldom does the redondilla drop below one-half of the lines 
of the play, and the romance rarely rises above 30% of the total. 
The striking predominance of redondilla may be considered, 
then, the most prominent feature of Alarcon 's versification. He 
even went so far as to write whole acts in redondilla without any 
other meter, something that Tirso never did, and certainly a 
very rare performance in that century. 2 The first act of los 
Empenos de un engano, the second of No hay mal, and the third 
of el Anticristo, contain no other meter than redondilla. With- 
out much doubt there was some connection between Alarcon 's 
fondness for quatrains and his sententious, moralizing turn of 
mind. Observe how many times an apothegm, an acute observa- 
tion or a moral falls within the limits of four condensed and 
polished lines : 

Que es vano pensar que son 
el refiir y aconsejar 
bastantes para quitar 
una fuerte inclinacion. 

— La Verdad sospechosa, II, vi. 

El vestido pienso yo 

que ha de imitar nuestra hechura; 

porque si nos desfigura 

es disfraz, que ornato no. 

— No hay mal, I, xi. 

There are on$ two examples of plays in which there is as 



2 Guillem de Castro, however, wrote an entire play in redondillas — los 
mal Casados de Valencia. This is the only record I have of even one act 
in solid redondillas, outside of Alarcon. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DEAMATIC VERSIFICATION 141 

much romance meter as redondilla, la Culpa busca la pena, and 
el Tejedor de Segovia, and none in which the romance rises con- 
spicuously above the redondilla. One may justly say, then, that 
plays having less than 40% redondilla, or more than 50% ro- 
mance, fall at once under suspicion. 

But this is not the only criterion by which Alarcon 's plays 
may be distinguished. Others relate to his use or lack of use of 
the silva, the estrofa lirica, and endechas. 

Alarcon never employs the estancia lirica, a trait sharply dis- 
tinguishing him from Tirso and Moreto. 

Alarcon never uses the 7-syllable assonants, well-known to 
Tirso. On the other hand, the 6-sy liable assonants, not found in 
Tirso 7 s authentic plays except in songs, occur twice: la Prueba 
de la# promesas, I, v ; el Tejedor de Segovia, II, xi. 

As regards the silva, a little more explanation is required. 
I have distinguished four types of silva, as they appear in the 
comedias of Tirso and other writers, and, indeed, the silva of the 
lyric poets is not different, and would always fit in one of the 
four categories. 3 

These may be distinguished as follows: 

Type 1. — The strict silva de consonant es, that is, pairs of 7 
and 11 syllables in regular alternation ; aA, bB, cC, etc. 

Example : 

Conde. &Que es esto? 

Elena. jAy, hado fiero! 

que se ausenta don Juan, que sin el muero; 

que sin remedio lloro; 

Infante, que me deja, que le adoro. 

Id tras el, detenelde. 
Conde. [Ah, rabiosas envidias! jAh, rebelde 

pasion! . . . Llevadle preso. 

jDoblarme agravios, y quitarme el seso! 
Elena. Prendanle, Conde, pues nos ha ofendido; 

que mas le quiero preso que perdido. 

— Tirso, La Eirmeza en la hermosura, I, xvii. 



3 Diaz Eengif o 's noted Arte poetica (1592) fails to make any note at 
all of the silva as a verse-form. But there are many equally strange omis- 
sions in that curious work. 



142 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

I have chosen this example to show that the last two lines of 
such a passage are sometimes both of eleven syllables. 

Type 2. — 7's and 11 's mixed irregularly, with irregular order 
of rimes, though couplets and quatrains of both abba and abab 
compose the major part of the passages. This type approximates 
to that used in the splendid odes of Quintana and Gallego, but 
nowhere does it attain their entire freedom of form. 
Example : 

Escucha: jj,porque asi te precipitas, 

y tus sospechas vanas y ligeras 

tan facil acreditas? 

^Porque no consideras 

que en este mismo techo 

otra ocasion se esconde suficiente 

a sujet'ar el corazon valiente 

del mas armado pecho? 

Si el amarme te ha hecho 

pensar que sola yo de amor tirano 

puedo mover la poderosa mano, 

acuerdate que ha puesto 

el cielo soberano 

en el mirar honesto 

de Leonor, mi sobrina, 

mas que humano poder, virtud divina: 

por ella, vive preso 

en aficion ardiente 

el Marques mi pariente. 

— Alarcon, Mudarse por mejorarse, II, ix. 

Type 3. — All the lines of 11 syllables; order of rimes irreg- 
ular, many couplets and quatrains, and some unrimed. This 
type may approximate to pareados, when couplets are frequent, 
and unrimed lines few, or to sueltos (blank verse), when they 
are many, for sueltos nearly always have a rimed couplet at the 
end of each speech or sentence, just as the blank verse of Shake- 
speare 's early plays. 
Example : 

Esto si es negoeiar, y esto se llama 

a Dios rogando y el dinero dando. 

Por echarle de mi le prometia 

sacarle (el cielo sabe cuan sin gana 

de cumplirlo) mi dueno a la ventana; 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DBAMATIC VERSIFICATION 143 

y tanto obro, pagando francamente, 
la promesa sin alma, que me pesa 
de que fuese sin alma la promesa. — 
Ya mudo pareeer; que el presidente 
con el poder obliga solamente. etc. 

— Alareon, La Prueba de las promesas, III, vii. 

Type 4. — All rimes in pairs; lines of both 11 and 7, in no 
fixed order. 
Example : 

Si incredula lo dudas, 

este retrato puede en lineas mudas 

atestiguar conmigo 

verdades que me fia y que te digo. 

Isabela a don Lope se le envia, 

y su dicha ha de estar por cuenta mia 

como la tuya, porque deste modo, 

el rey sin celos se asegure en todo, 

que ya se van logrando 

los medios que voy dando, 

pues don Lope a Isabela reducido, 

mejora de cuidados en tu olvido. 

— Tirso, A mar por arte mayor, II, xii. 4 

Tirso used all four of these types, and number 1 more than 
all the rest put together. But Alareon never uses number 1 — 
the strict aAoBcC ; neither does he ever use number 4. The 
latter omission is likely to be due to mere chance ; but one must 
impute to a definite antipathy his neglect of the silva de conso- 
nant es. It was a well defined, recognized form which Tirso culti- 
vated with care for important scenes. 

Strict sueltos, or endecasilabos Mores, are found only once in 
Alareon, in el Desdichado en fingir, II, xi (eleven lines only). 
I have classed two other passages as sueltos {la Crueldad por el 
honor, III, iii, iv; la Cueva de Salamanca, III) ; but they could 
equally well pass for silva. As I pointed out a moment ago, when 
a passage contains none but hendecasyllables, no rimes but in 



* Beside these four regular types, one can find other capricious ones, 
such as Tirso invented for 7a Election por la virtud, II, vi, vii, and xv; and 
for la Santa Jaana 1 , II, viii. 



144 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

pairs, and a number of unrimed lines, it might be regarded as 
either silva of type 3, sueltos, or pareados with some odd lines. 
I have followed the practice of placing such in the silva column 
when the rimes predominate, among the sueltos when they are 
less in evidence, and with the pareados when there are not more 
than one or two odd lines in the whole passage. 

Strict pareados, couplets of hendecasyllables, occur once only 
in Alarcon, Ganar amigos, III, i-ii (54 lines). 

With regard to the lira, see below, page 165. 

The sonnet is not a favorite with Alarcon. In his twenty- 
four plays there are 126 lines of sonnet, or an average of 5.2 
lines per play. Lope and Tirso employed the sonnet much more 
willingly. Of Lope I cannot speak with exactness as yet, but 
Tirso 's average is 16.7 lines per play. In the tiercets Alarcon 
nearly always follows the order cdecde. 

What, then, are the purely external criteria by which a play 
of Alarcon may be distinguished, and one not by him, rejected ? 
They are : 

1. Great predominance of redondillas; not less than 40 per 
cent and not more than 50 per cent romance. 

2. Non-use of silva de consonant es (type 1). 

3. Non-use of estancias liricas. 

4. Non-use of 7-syllable assonants. 

I should not stress the last, as the form is rare anywhere. 
But the other three ought to carry a good deal of weight. 

Let us now apply these tests to the few plays in which the 
hand of Alarcon has been suspected, and see how the measuring- 
rod fits in practice. An analysis of them will be found in table 2. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



14o 



Table 2 — Comedias Which Have Been Connected With Alarcon 



Title 


a 

o 


.9 

'3 
or 


c3 
J 
'o 

Q 


© 


03 
> 

S3 


Octava r 
Sonnet 


Cautela contra 














cautela 


488 




140 


228 e 






2731 














Act II 


244 
308 

284 




110 


156 e-o 






Act III 


392 




50 


292 o-a 
90e-a 






Total, 


1716 

60% 




300 


766 

27% 






Prospera f ortuna 
cle D. Alvaro 92 


30 




86i-e 


38 




2369 


96 
120 






130 u-a 


1° 




Act II 


372 

16 

372 


15 


60 


126 a-o 






Act III 


80 




60 


80a-e 


8 


40 




148 






52 e 


1° 


24 




156 






122 a 






Total, 


1452 
61% 


45 


120 


596 

25% 


46 


64 


Adversa f ortuna 








74i-a 


62 


48 


de D. Alvaro 


356 




220 


134 e-a 


1° 




2529 














Actn 


104 








234 a-a 


51 1 






244 






116 e-e 


4° 


80 




80 












Act III 


288 




60 


64i-a 


6 






40 




60 


40 a-o 


1° 






84 






68 u-a 






Total, 


1196 

47% 




340 


730 
29% 


119 


128 



Eh Miscellaneous 

Sc. ix; estribillo of 

7's and 11 's in 
romance, 4 

Sc. xx; there are 6 

faulty lines among 

the decimas 

Sc. xxv ; sueltos, 14 

Sc. xxvi; sueltos, 13 

Two prose letters 

Four prose arbitrios 

Sc. ix; arte mayor, 16 

Two prose letters 

Sc. ix; estrofas liricas, 

30 (coplas de Jorge 

Manrique, ABcABc, 
8's and 4's). 
One prose decree 

Sc. vi; sueltos, 16 

One prose letter 

Sc. xi; songs, 

, romance, 8 

Sc. xxii; song, 
romance, 8 



1 There are slight irregularities in this passage. 



146 



LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 2 — (Continued) 





T3 

Pi 
o 

T3 


"3 


1 


a 

a 


> 


> 




o 
"5 
« 




Title 




3 


(=>■ 


o 

PS 


w 


o 
O 


o 
w 


03 


Miscellaneous 


Siempre ayuda 




















la verclad 


48 


30 


40 


58 e-e 




40 






Sc. iv; one prose letter 


2757 


60 




80 


108 e-a 




48 






Sc. v; lira, 60; 


«■ 


316 






132 a-o 










aBaBcC 


Act II 


160 




80 


148 e-a 




40 






Sc. ii; sueltos, 29 




104 




30 


108 a-e 
60 e-o 




24 






Sc. xvi; lira, 24; 

AbbACC 
Sc. xvii; one prose 

letter 


Act III 


92 

68 

172 




40 
80 


150 e-a • 
112 e-o 






14 


94 


Sc. vi; 6-syllable 

assonants in e-o, 108 
Sc. x; one prose letter 


Total, 


1020 
36% 


30 


350 


876 
31% 




152 


14 


94 




El Tejedor de Se 








184 e-o 


76 


104 






Sc. vi; two prose 


govia ; la Parte 240 


65 


40 


98 e-a 


1° 








letters 


2625 










41 

2° 








Sc. xvi-xviii ; lira, 66 ; 
mostly aBaBcC 


Act II 


68 
32 


95 


80 
70 


174 a-o 
166 e-o 


402 


64 








Act III 


60 
32 
56 




80 


52o-e 
174 i-o 
210 e-e 


48 
1° 








Sc. iii; 6-syllable 
assonants in o-o, 120 


- 


24 






66 e-a 












Total, 


512 
19% 


160 


270 


1124 
43% 


205 


168 









2 This passage, in scene x-xi, I have classed as silva of the second type, but it may be 
regarded as an estrofa lirica of 9 lines, not adhered to strictly. 



The first four are included in the Segunda parte of the com- 
edies of Tirso (1635), and no one of them has ever been consid- 
ered one of the four he wrote entirely himself. 5 The association of 
Alarcon's name with Cautela contra cautela rests, I believe, en- 
tirely on the style of certain portions; Hartzenbusch professed 



s The fullest discussion of Tirso ? s Segunda parte is in Cotarelo y Mori 's 
Tirso de Molina, Madrid, 1893. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 147 

to detect the hand of the Mexican dramatist in scenes x to xiv of 
the second act. 6 There is, unfortunately, nothing definitive in 
the versification which might tell for or against Alarcon 's author- 
ship, either in the play as a whole or in the scenes named, which 
are written entirely in redondillas. Of course, in cases where a 
work is supposed to be a composite, percentages count for little. 

For the same reason an examination of Siempre ayuda la 
verdad is not satisfactory. There is supposed to have existed a 
suelta of this play bearing Alarcon 's name, though no one has 
seen it in recent times; it was cited in the Catdlogo of Medel 
(1735). It is unlikely that Alarcon wrote the entire play for 
several reasons: because the percentage of redondillas is con- 
siderably below that of any play of his; because neither of the 
liras is a form used by him (see below, p. 165) . Luis Fernandez- 
Guerra asserts confidently that Belmonte and Alarcon collabor- 
ated in the play, the latter writing the second act, his friend the 
last, and both together the first. He relates all this as if it were 
an uncontrovertible fact {op. tit., p. 370) ; but apparently has 
no basis but style for the statement {ibid., note 471). 

Hartzenbusch {Bibl. aut. esp., V, xxxix) and L. Fernandez- 
Guerra {op. tit., p. 299) have connected Alarcon 's name also 
with the two parts of don Alvaro de Luna, a very interesting 
historical composition. Again, there appears to be no basis but 
style for the assertion. In both parts there are silvas of type 1, 
and in the Prospera fortuna there are estrofas liricas; but of 
course, if Tirso and Alarcon collaborated, the former might have 
written those portions. 

The so-called Primera parte of el Tejedor de Segovia is in a 
different case. It was never claimed by Alarcon in his own 
collections, but was attributed to him wherever printed, because 
he wrote the original el Tejedor de Segovia, now known as the 
second part. Hartzenbusch asserted, and modern critics are all 
in agreement, that the piece could not have been written by 
Alarcon : ' ' el estilo nada se parece al de Alarcon, los pensamientos 



6 Bibl. aut. esp. V, xxxix. He was followed by Luis Fernandez-Guerra 
y Orbe, Juan Ruiz de Alarcon (Madrid, 1871), p. 299, and note 407. 



148 LITEBARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

y la traza del poema tampoco, no cabe duda en que es de otra 
mano." 7 The verse analysis comes to support this view in a 
rather striking way. 

The false Tejedor is not by Alarcon, for two good reasons: 
(1) it contains only 19 per cent of redondillas, which is conclu- 
sive; (2) it contains two passages of strict silva de consonant es 
(I, v, vi; III, iii). 

M. Ed. Barry is responsible for the assertion, made with 
much aplomb, 8 that Alarcon wrote part of la Villana de Vallecas, 
published by Tirso in his Primera parte, a perfectly authentic 
collection of the Fraile de la Merced. Like all M. Barry's sug- 
gestions, it is provocative of thought, and like many of his, it is 
backed by little or no solid proof. M. Barry is fond of jumping 
at similarities of name, and hence declares that the ' ' Gabriel de 
Herrera" of la Villana de Vallecas represents Tirso himself 
(Gabriel Tellez), whilst "Pedro de Mendoza" is Juan Ruiz de 
Alarcon y Mendoza. When Gabriel Tellez wished to speak by 
the lips of one of his characters, he regularly created as his 
mouth-piece a personage named "Tirso" or "Tarso"; just why 
he should represent himself in the person of the liar, scapegrace 
and impostor Gabriel de Herrera, is far from clear. Even sup- 
posing Pedro de Mendoza to be in part a portrayal of the hunch- 
back poet, why, pray, must he have written the passages him- 
self in which his ancestry and early history are narrated ? Could 
not Tirso, the acknowledged author of the play, have done it? 
Was Tirso so infertile and lacking in imagination that he could 
not place an account of Alarcon 's life in the mouth of one of his 
characters? M. Barry's inference is characteristic of the critic 
for whom any clever hypothesis acquires at once the value of an 
established fact. He is like a detective who locates a plausible 
clue and at once forgets that there may be another line of 
reasoning. 



7 Bibl. aut. esp., XX, vii. 

s In his edition of la Verdad sospechosa (Paris, 1897), p. xii. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 149 

There are no details of versification which cast much light 
upon the matter. 9 The scene (I, x) which Barry supposes to 
have been written by Alarcon is in octava rima. That is one of 
Alarcon's rare meters; it occurs in only nine passages out of 
24 plays, never more than once in a play. With Tirso the story 
is quite different. Octava rima is used in 43 of his 58 authentic 
plays, and often more than once in the same play. This is not 
conclusive proof certainly, merely a straw. 

As for Luis Fernandez-Guerra 's suggestion, based wholly on 
style, that Alarcon wrote el Condenado por desconfiado, 10 it is 
made with confessed hesitation, and really does not merit dis- 
cussion. I do not believe that Tirso wrote the play as it stands, 
but it is certain that Alarcon did not. The verse analysis is 
conclusive on this point (14 per cent redondillas) , and the lyric 
breath of the pastoral scenes is beyond Alarcon's reach. 11 

There remains one problem, that of chronology, which one 
would like to be able to attack intelligently, for every author, 
from the side of formal development. But before one can trace 
the growth of style or methods it is necessary to possess a secure 
basis of undisputed fact ; that is, one must know the certain 
dates of a few plays at the beginning, middle and end of an 
author's career. For Alarcon these points, upon which to plot 
a curve, are not available. The chronological table furnished 
with hesitation by Hartzenbusch (Bibl. aut. esp., XX, xi) is 
meager, not entirely accurate, and above all, lacks late dates. 
There is not a single play of which we know that it was written 
late in the author's life. Professor P. Henriquez Urena has given 
much thought to the matter, but the result of his study is, so far, 
only a selection of plays before 1614, and after 1614 ; apprentice- 
ship and maturity. 12 The touchstones which he uses are mainly 
the internal evidence of style, formulas of courtesy, development 



9 The analysis of la Yillana de Vallecas may be found in Bull, hisp., 
VII (1905), 393. 
io Op. cit., p. 415. 

ii On el Condenado, cf. Bull, hisp., VII (1905), 406-407. 
12 Don Juan Ruiz de Alarcon (Havana, 1915), p. 22. 



150 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

of an Alarconian code of ethics, etc. With the exception of 
Mudarse por mejorarse and la Manganilla de Melilla, the classifi- 
cation corresponds to that of Hartzenbusch, or at least is not con- 
tradicted by it. 13 

As regards meter, Henriquez Urena makes this statement 
(p. 23) : 

Con el tiempo pareceme que emplea cada vez menos el endecasilabo 
(en que nunca fue muy feliz) y menos aun los versos cortos menores de 
ocho silabas. Es digno de atencion el empleo del soneto en el Semejante 
a si mismo, Mudarse por mejorarse, la Prueba de las promesas, el Dueno de 
las estrellas, los Favores del mundo y las Paredes oyen. El soneto fue muy 
usado por Lope y Tirso en sus comedias; menos ya por Calderon, y mucho 
menos por el dramaturgo mexicano. 

Here we have two observations that touch upon the chronol- 
ogy of the comedias : ( 1 ) Alarcon used the hendecasy liable less 
as he grew older; (2) lines shorter than eight syllables were also 
less used with time. I fear that neither statement will be found 
in strict accord with the facts. 

As to the first, it is an easy matter to judge as to the fre- 
quency of 11-sy liable lines, simply by casting a glance at the 
tables which I have presented. As the Italian meters occupy 
exclusively the four right-hand special columns, plus the sueltos 
and lira, which are under the heading, "Miscellaneous,'' one has 
only to cast up the totals of the different plays under these 
headings, and judge for himself whether there are more hende- 
casyllables in the early plays than in the late. What we find 
is this: 



is ' < Pareceme que hay por lo menos dos periodos en la carrera de 
Alarcon: uno de ensayo y otro de madurez, que acaso esten divididos por 
el ano de 1614, en que comienza el que llamare periodo madrilefio. Aun 
en el de ensayo, podrian sefialarse dos subdivisiones: anos de Salamanca 
y Sevilla (1600-1608) y anos de Mexico (1608-1613). Al primer periodo 
pertenecen quizas: la Culpa busca la pena, el Desdichado en ftngir, la 
Cueva de Salamanca, Quien mal anda en mal acaba, la Industria y la suerte, 
Mudarse por mejorarse, el Semejante a si mismo, y aun otras que se habian 
juzgado posteriores, como la Manganilla de Melilla; al segundo es indudable 
que corresponden : la Verdad sospechosa, los Favores del mundo, las Paredes 
oyen, Ganar amigos, el Examen de Maridos, No hay mal que por bien no 
venga o Don Domingo de Don Bias, los Pechos privilegiados." 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 151 

Early works: 

La Culpa busca la pena, 128. 
La Industria y la suerte, 139. 
La Cueva de Salamanca, 367. 
El Desdichado en fingir, 11. 
Quien mal anda en mal acdba, 109. 

Works of maturity: 

El Examen de maridos, 143. 

Los Favor es del mundo, 293. 

Ganar amigos, 174. 

No hay mal que por bien no venga, 346. 

Las Paredes oyen, 95. 

Los Pechos privilegiados, 208. 

La Verdad sospechosa, 73. 

It is clear that there is absolutely no distinguishable differ- 
ence between the two groups. 

Touching the second point, I regret to say there seems to be 
even less in it. "Versos cortos menores de ocho silabas" are 
used only twice by Alar con in all his plays. There are 246 
endechas in el Tejedor de Segovia, and 36 in la Prueba de las 
promesas. As practically nothing is known of the date of com- 
position of these plays, it is evident that there is no profit in 
discussing the matter. 

I have, however, no better theory to advance. As was the 
case with Tirso, I have been unable to discover the clue, if such 
there be, to Alarcon 's metrical development. I am led to con- 
clude that whatever changes took place in the dramatic versifi- 
cation of the siglo de oro were the result rather of the substi- 
tution of one personality for another than of progress in one 
author. Thus it is certainly a fact that the romance meter was 
used much more in the latter half of the siglo de oro than in the 
early portion. But there is no evidence of the progress of the 
change in the careers of Tirso and Alarcon. La Culpa busca 
la pena, the play which critics agree shows Alarcon in utter 
immaturity, is precisely the one having the greatest percentage 
of romance verse. 



152 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

As to Tirso, it is true that his last plays (Del enemigo el 
primer consejo, la Huerta de Juan Fernandez, las Quinas de 
Portugal) all contain more than 30 per cent romance, while 
those considered the very earliest (Amar por senas, el Celoso 
prudente, Como han de ser los amigos, la Villana de la Sagra, 
el Vergonzoso en palacio) are all a little under that figure (though 
not much) ; but there are plays in his earliest manner with a 
large proportion of romance (la Gallega Mari-Herndndez, Antona 
Garcia). 

I have sometimes thought that a liberal use of quintillas was 
proof of an early date. It is probably true that, speaking very 
broadly, the quintilla diminished in popularity as the century 
advanced and in the decadent period it was under a ban. But 
for Alarcon and Tirso at least no chronology can be worked out 
on a basis of quintillas. 

The metrical development of the siglo de oro is not yet well 
understood. It is possible that a study of Lope de Vega may 
furnish the key to it. Lope's works are an ocean, largely unex- 
plored, that holds the solution of many a riddle. 

II. MOEETO, 1618-1669 

It is with hesitation that I venture to publish any results of 
my examination of Moreto at present, since all his plays are not 
accessible. Out of some 53 extant comedies entirely by Moreto, 
30 are published in the collection of Luis Fernandez-Guerra 
(Bill. aut. esp., XXXIX). They are the subject of this study. 
For the same reason the list of doubtful plays is not so long as 
it should be. 

With Moreto we shall catch a glimpse of the second or Cal- 
deronian period, that which in terms of versification may be 
called the romance era. Redondilla falls into second place, and 
the third rank meters become rarer and less varied. We shall 
not find in Moreto, however, an exemplar of the truly decadent 
stage of versification, in which it is almost possible to predict 
in advance of what meters a play will consist. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



153 



Table 3 — Moreto 





T3 
PI 
O 

T3 


a 


c3 

s 


a 

ei 

a 


c3 

> 


tava 
nnet 




u 


Title 


CD 


3 

a? 


Q 


ti 


OQ 



O 02 


E-! Miscellaneous 


Antioco y Seleuco 68 


105 




400 i-o 


168 






2591 








116 i-a 


2° 






Act II 


252 




40 


342 e-a 


28 




Sc. iii; songs in ro- 




56 






130 e-o 


2° 




mance, 16 

Sc. ix; song, assonant 
in 6, lines of varied 
length, 4 


Act III 


144 


115 




476 a-a 
880-0 


63 

4° 




Sc. xi; song, romance, 

4. 


Total, 


520 
20% 


220 


40 


1552 
60% 


259 






El Caballero 


112 






324 e-o 


40 




Scs. xi and xv; ro- 


3013 


96 






404 e-a 


4° 




mance, 12 


Act II 


124 
92 
36 


130 




298 6 
280 o-a 


156 

2° 
64 

4° 






Act III 


32 
68 




80 


102 i-o 
180 0-0 
192 e-o 


127 
2° 
76 
4° 






Total, 


560 

18% 


130 


80 


1780 
59% 


463 

15% 






Como se vengan 
















los nobles 


116 






224 i-o 


129 


64 


Sc. i-iii; songs in pop- 


2464 








192 a-o 
58o-o 


2° 




ular forms, 12 


Act II 


52 




10 


94a-e 


36 


40 






152 







148 i-o 


2° 








72 






120 a 


81 
2° 
10 






























1° 






Act III 


72 
36 
40 




20 
50 
50 


108 6 
188 u-a 
90 i-a 
102 o-a 




40 




Total, 


540 

22% 




200 


1324 
53% 


256 


144 





154 



LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 3 — (Continued) 





T3 

a 
o 
T3 


pi 


c3 

a 

'3 


a 


c3 

> 


> 

c3 




o 
o 




Title 


0) 




A 


o 


W 


o 


o 
w 


93 


Miscellaneous 


La Confusion de 




















un jardin 


152 




40 


228 a-e 


47 






103 




2514 


80 
88 
76 








i° 










Act II 


48 
580 






244 i-e 




48 








Act III 


88 

100 

52 






204 e-o 
220 o-a 








76 


Sc. iii ; estrof as liricas, 
39; 7 7 s and 11 's 
abCabCcdeeDfF 


Total, 


1264 
50% 




40 


896 

35% 


47 


48 




179 




El Defensor de 




















. su agravio 


232 


115 


30 


370 e-o 






14 




Sc. ii; songs, romance, 


3029 
> 


100 






200 e-a 










12 
Sc. vii ; estrof as liricas, 
46; 7 'sand 11 % 23 
line stanza, ABCAB- 
CcbBcddCeeffgg- 
HII 


Act II 


160 

. 240 

124 




110 


164 i-o 
102 6 










Sc. xiii; lira, 42; 
AbaBCC 


Act III 


148 

48 


130 


40 


156 o-o 
222 6 
148 a-o 


22 
4° 








Sc. iv; song, redon- 

dilla, 4 
Sc. viii; lira, 48; 

AbAbCC 
Sc. xiii; lira, 18; 

varying scheme 


Total, 


1052 
34% 


245 


180 


1362 
45% 


22 




14 






De f uera vendra 


116 


110 




500 a-a 


172 








Sc. xi; one prose 


3054 








94 i-o 


.2° 








letter 


Act II 


236 






550 e-o 
18341 


74 
4° 








Sc. ix; two prose 
letters 


Act III 


192 
220 






326 e-a 

146 a-o 

62 a-a 


73 
4° 










Total, 


764 
25% 


110 




1861 
61% 


319 











1 One extra line at end of act. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



155 



Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 






o 


02 C 


o 

> w 


El Desden con 












el desden 


64 




374 i-a 






2744 


88 
92 




318 e-o 






Act II 


248 


80 


266 e-a 
150 i-o 


37 .... 

2° .... 




Act III 


80 


10 


338 o-o 


37 ... 


... 14 




32 


60 


214 a-o 
52 e 


4° .... 




Total, 


604 

22% 


80 70 


1712 
62% 


74 .... 


.. 14 


En el mayor 
imposible 
2492 


104 
432 




182 e-a 
50 6 
S 12 e-o 2 
\ 110 6 






Act II 


188 


50 


364 e-o 


22 .... 






132 




164 a-o 


4° .... 




Act III 


188 




102 i-a 


74 .... 






172 




146 a-a 


1° .... 




Total, 


1216 

48% 


50 


1130 

45% 


96 .... 




Los Engafios de 
un engaiio 
2649 


16 

28 


150 


66a-e 
96 i 


161 .... 

4° .... 






112 




96 e-a 
82 a-a 




.. 14 


Act II 


116 


10 


80 i-o 


126 .... 






8 


320 


88o-a 


4° .... 
62 .... 

4° .... 




Act III 


96 




328 a-e 


28 .... 






84 




94 6 
188 e-e 
200 e 


4° .... 




Total, 


460 
15% 


480 


1318 
49% 


377 .... 


.. 14 



Eh Miscellaneous 

Sc. ii-iii; lira, 108; 

varying scheme 

Sc. iv; songs, romance, 

12 

Sc. iii; songs, 6-sylla- 

ble assonants, 24 

Sc. vii, viii, ix; songs, 
romance, 12 
82 Sc. iii-iv; songs, ro- 
mance, 12 

82 



2 No intervening meter, but the first is a letter. 



156 



LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 


a 
o 


"3 
"3 
or 


i Fuerza de 






la ley 
2907 


76 
32 


181 



Act II 
Act III 



Ludustrias con- 
tra firmezas 

2781 

Act 11 



Act 111 



Total, 



Los Jueces de 
Castilla 
3154 
Act I! 



76 



300 

308 

116 210 90 

132 20 



98a-a 

118 a-a 

6 a-a 

52 a-a 
2 a-a 

10 a-a 
192 i-o 
236 e-o 

92e-a 
140 a 
238 a-o 

26 e 



Total, 1040 395 110 1210 
35% 41% 



192 

112 

36 

160 

4 

28 

56 

192 150 



100 
40 



268 e-a 60 

108 a-e 4° 
104 a 

508 e-o 

164 i-o 



.. 252 a-a 107 

S 70 6 2° 

I 112 e-a 

780 150 140 1486 



28% 



724 

48 

332 

228 



70 



Act III 680 40 
112 



53% 

116 i-o 
258 a-a 
160 6 

176 i-a 



167 



98 
4° 



96 



Total, 2124 110 710 98 

67% 22% 



14 
14 
14 
14 



96 56 



EH Miscellaneous 

Sc. i; one prose letter 

Sc. x; song, 4; 8's 

abab 

Sc. ii; song, romance, 

4 
Sc. vi; one prose 

letter 

Sc. i; one prose 

letter 

Sc. xv; pareados of 

11, 58 

Sc. xviii; song, 

romance, 4 

Sc. xvi; song, 

romance, 4 

Sc. v; pareados of 

11, 28 

Sc. vi; arte mayor, 56 

Sc. vii; song, 
romance, 12 

Sc. vii; song, 

romance, 8 

Sc. xvi-xvii; pareados 
of 11, 28 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



157 



Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 


ti 


& 


a & 


m 


El Licenciado 










Vidriera 


124 


150 


402 a-a 




2935 


108 




224 e-o 




Act II 


492 


130 


232 u-a 

214 e-a 




Act III 


14"4 


80 


328 i-o 
216 a-o 


49 

2° 


Total, 


868 
29% 


360 


1616 

55% 


49 


El Undo don 










Diego 


80 


85 


390 i-o 


41 


3084 


200 




242 e-o 


2° 


Act II 


292 
176 




240 e-a 
300 i-a 




Act III 


108 




222 e-o 


48 




92 




296 a-e 
226 e-o 


2° 


Total, 


948 
30% 


85 


1916 

62% 


89 


Lo que puede la 










aprehension 


80 


40 


434 i-o 


86 


2971 






208 i-a 
140 e-e 


2° 
2 


Act II 


248 


35 


476 e-a 


58 









212 e-o 


2° 


Act III 


116 


50 


318 a-a 

S 282 e-e 

\ 90 a-a 

46 6 


10 

2° 


Total, 


444 
15% 


125 


2206 

74% 


156 


El mejor Amigo 










el rey 


384 




182 e-o 


36 


2895 






278 e-a 


2° 


Act II 


308 

88 




10 238 a-a 
362 i-o 




Act III 


80 


155 


254 a-o 

426 i-a 

94 e 




Total, 


860 

29% 


155 


10 1834 
63% 


36 



40 



40 



Miscellaneous 

Sc. ix; lira, 42; varied 

scheme 
Sc. xi-xii; songs, 

romance, 16 
Sc. xv ; song, 

romance, 4 

Sc. vii; pareados of 
11, 46 

Sc. iv; song, 

romance, 8 
Sc. viii; one prose 

letter 
Sc. vi; song; abba, 4 

Sc. xi-xii; songs, 
romance, 12 

Sc. xi; one prose 
letter 



158 



LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 









Table 3— 


(Continued) 










c3 
o 


c8 

a 


oj 
J 

3 


(V 

a 


05 

> 


03 

s 

'u 

03 
> 

03 




02 
O 




Title 


a? 


or 


A 


o 


55 


o 
O 


o 
xn 


Eh 


Miscellaneous 


La milagrosa 




















Eleccion de 




















San Pio V 


192 


50 




136 e-a 




72 






Sc. viii; one prose 


2535 


32 

8 


80 




168 a-a 
130 i-o 










letter 
Sc. xii; one prose 

letter 
Sc. xvi; song, 6- 

syllable assonants, 4 


Act II 


252 


80 


80 


92 e-a 
38 e-o 
70a-e 
44 o-e 










Sc. i; pareados, 50 
Sc. xiii-xiv; song, 

romance, 8 
Sc. xvii; pareados, 52 
Sc. vii; one prose 

letter 


Act III 


264 
140 




653 


244 e-o 
196 o-a 










Sc. iii; song, 2 


Total, 


888 
35% 


210 


145 


1118 

44% 




72 








La misma Con- 




ciencia acusa 


252 






258 e-o 










Sc. vii; song, 8 


3010 


172 






422 i-a 












Act II 


168 
64 




70 


258 e-o 

238 6 
80 e-a 


133 

2° 










Act III 


144 


225 




274 a-o 
194 i-o 

58 a-a 












Total, 


800 

26% 


225 


70 


1782 
59% 


133 










No puede 




















ser . . . 


184 


10 


10 


462 e-o 




8 


14 




Sc. ii; song, assonants 


2960 


16 






238 a 










of 11, 4 
Sc. v-vii ; pareados, 78 


Act II 


156 


40 




142 i-a 











Sc. iv-vi ; pareados, 96 




32 






262 e-a 
282 i-o 












Sc. vii; one prose 
letter 


Act III 


32 

4 







542 a-o 

256 a-a 

64 e 










Sc. xx-xxii; pareados, 
32 


Total, 


424 
14% 


50 


10 


2248 
76% 




8 


14 







3 Five lines missing. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



159 



Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 


ti 


<? Q tf 


Ul 


o 


m 


a, Ocasion hace 














al ladron 


124 


85 .. 


120 i-o 




120 




2862 


120 




226 e-o 
136 e-o 








Act II 


-64 
196 




322 i-a 
.... S 258 a-e 
.... \ 138 e-a 








Act III 


120 


145 .. 


218 e-o 
206 e-a 
264 e-a 








Total, 


624 
21% 


230 .. 


.... 1888 
.... 66% 




120 




1 Parecido en 














la corte 


100 




648 e-o 


66 






2912 


96 




84 i-o 


4° 






Act II 


312 
60 
92 


40 .. 


290 e-a 
50 e 


132 

4° 






Act III 


288 
52 




296 a-e 
.... 192 i-o 


114 

2° 






Total, 


1000 
34% 


40 .. 


.... 1560 

.... 53% 


312 






L Poder de la 






304 e-o 


83 




14 


amistad 


104 


40 .. 


.... 152 a-e 


2° 






2795 


16 


40 .. 


150 a-a 


76 
3° 






Act II 


172 
76 


85 .. 


.... 170 o-a 
148 e-a 










200 















Act III 


48 

272 

4 


40 .. 


.... 198 i-o 
86 a-o 
50 a 






14 


Total, 


892 

32% 


205 .. 


.... 1262 

.... 45% 


159 




28 



Miscellaneous 

Sc. iii; one prose 
letter 

Sc. ix; one prose letter 

Sc. ii; song, redon- 
dilla, 4 

Sc. i; pareados, 57 

(1 odd line) 
Sc. iii ; estrofas Kricas, 

66; coplas de Jorge 

Manrique 
Sc. i-ii; lira, 84; 

ABABCC 
Sc. ii; pareados, 4 
Sc. ix; song, redon- 

dilla, 4 
Sc. xiii; pareados, 38 



160 



LITERABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 
Primero es la 
honra 



Act II 



G" 



S 



Act III 



196 75 S 336 o-a 

I 80i-a 

186 i-o 



92 

200 



32 30 



Total, 


520 




18% 


San Franco de 




Sena 


156 


2898 


96 




124 


Act II 


452 


Act III 


180 




216 


Total, 


1224 




42% 


El Seereto entre 




dos amigos 


28 


2252 


28 




84 


Act II 


64 




108 




164 


Act III 


42 




32 




8 


Total, 


558 




24% 



70 



40 



40 



376 e-a 
234 a-a 



86 
244 6 

38e-o 
228 e-o 

94e-o 
142 o-o 



105 40 1966 
68% 



40 



390 e-o 
110 a-o 



70 40 1168 
40% 



210 
944 



96 i 
352 e-a 



28 e 
210 o-e 



64 

4° 

77 
2° 



141 



332 e-a 119 

80 i-o 3° 

256 a-e 



119 



86 
2° 



160 a-a 124 

88 e-o 2° 

142 i-e 

40 304 1076 210 
50% 



64 



64 



14 



14 



28 



Miscellaneous 

Sc. i; song, romance, 8 
Sc. viii ; song, romance, 

4 
Sc.-viii; lira, 60; 

abbacC 
Sc. iii; songs, romance, 

12 
Sc. xiii-xiv; pareados, 

34 
Sc. i; song, 8 



Sc. x; song, redon- 
dilla, 4 



53 Sc. i-iv; pareados, 224 

Sc. xi; song, redon- 

dilla, 4 
53 



4 A two-line estribillo, riming with the end of a decima, occurs twice in this series. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DEAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



161 



Table 3 — {Continued) 



Title 




'3 




s 

o 


> 5 
m O 


5 2 

o <o 
W Eh 


Miscellaneous 


La Traicion 
















vengada 


288 






476 e-a 


134 






2580 








132 a-o 


1° 






Act II 


248 






494 a-a 






Sc. viii ; one prose 
letter 


Act III 


80 
96 




50 


372 a-o 
210 i-o 








Total 


712 

28% 




50 


1684 
65% 


134 






Trampa adelante 


72 






536 e-a 






Sc. vi-vii; pareados, 


3153 


248 






112i-o 






112 


Act II 


400 






416 6 
126 e-o 


42 

3° 






Act III 


432 


30 




468 a-a 
98a-e 


61 

3° 




Sc. iii ; one prose letter 


Total, 


1152 
36% 


30 




1756 
55% 


103 






Las Travesuras 
















de Panto j a 


160 






26 i-o 




14 


Sc. iii ; one prose letter 


2068 


36 
64 






92 o-a 

76 e-a 

74a-e 

128 o-o 








Act II 


48 




50 


88 a-o 
118 6 

72 e 
140 i-o 


38 

4° 

114 

4° 






Act III 


144 

76 






178 o-o 
S 66 6 
I 256 o-a 








Total, 


528 

25% 




50 


1314 
63% 


152 


14 




El Valiente 








330 e-o 






Sc. iii; song, 5 


justiciero 


276 


80 




236 e-a 






Sex; song, romance, 


2733 














4 


Act II 


208 
140 




20 


306 i-a 
190 i-o 








Act III 


132 

228 






186 a-a 
310 e-o 






Sc. ix-x; pareados, 91 
(one odd line) 


Total, 


984 
36% 


80 


20 


1558 

57% 









162 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Table 3 — (Continued) 



Title 


o 


.9 

'3 


MB 
A 


a 

o 
P3 


> 


03 
"S 

o 


a 
a 
o 

m 


o 
En 


Miscellaneous 


Yo por vos, j 




















vos por otro 


24 




1205 


514 i-a 


97 










2797 








286 e-o 


4° 










Act II 


120 

176 


75 




110 i-o 

382 e-a 










Sc. i; pareados, 57 
(one odd line) 

Sc. viii; songs, ro- 
mance, 8 


Act III 


88 
100 

28 




60 


372 a-e 
72 o-o 










Sc. i; song, redon- 
dilla, 4 

Sc. x-xv; pareados, 
116 


Total, 


536 
19% 


75 


180 


1736 
62% 


97 











5 These decimas are peculiar in that many end in a non-riming estribillo : "Amor loco, 
amor loco, yo por vos y vos por otro." 



Moreto 's plays average in length about the same as those of 
Alarcon. The longest, los Jueces de Costilla (3154) ; the shortest, 
las Travesuras de Panto jo (2068). He shows a little more 
diversity of expression than Alarcon, even if he does belong to 
the age of romancistas. The largest percentage of romance is 
74 (Lo que puede la aprehension) , the smallest 22 (los Jueces 
de Castillo) ; but a glance over the tables will show the reader 
that the proportion runs with much uniformity from 45 per cent 
up. In fact, los Jueces de Castillo is so unusual in its lack of 
romance verse and large amount of redondilla that it suggests 
some special effort on the part of the writer. The reason is 
doubtless to be found in the archaic nature of the piece ; its 
language is that spurious Old Spanish which was favored . in 
certain ballads of the neighborhood of 1600. 14 Perhaps Moreto 
considered redondilla a medieval strophe ; why, is not apparent. 
The romance of Moreto shows plenty of skill and variety in 



14 The most famous is the one beginning ' ' Non es de sesudos homes ' ' 
(Duran, Bomancero general, no. 728), but there are plenty of others. The 
author of la adversa Fortuna de don Alvaro, whether Tirso or another, 
mildly satirized this pseudo-archaic fashion (III, xy). 



STUDIES IN SPANISH BE AM AT IC VERSIFICATION 1G3 

assonance. Like Alarcon, and unlike Tirso, Moreto never closes 
a laisse of romance with a couplet in Italian lines. All of his 
plays, and nearly all of the acts of each, end in romance. 

The redondilla occupies the place with Moreto that the 
romance does with the earlier writers. The highest percentage 
is 67 (los Jueces de Castillo), the lowest 15 (los Enganos de un 
engano; Lo que puede la aprehension) . Ordinarily it fluctuates 
between 15 and 35. 

It may be worth observing that, judged by the standard or 
rule of identification set for Tirso (not less than 20 per cent 
redondilla, nor more than 60 per cent romance), 13 of Moreto 's 
30 plays would be debarred at once from the possibility of having 
been written by Tirso. By the Alarconian standard (leaving 
aside other tests than the romance-redondilla one), only four 
plays of the 30 would pass muster. These figures demonstrate, 
it seems to me, that the versification criterion is not imaginary. 

As I said, Moreto displays somewhat more variety of meter 
than Alarcon. Thus he uses estrofas liricas not infrequently. 
But there are limitations to his repertory. Endechas, either of 
six or seven syllables, are not found there. 15 He never uses 
blank verse, nor anything approaching it. Here are three neg- 
ative facts, which would furnish solid tests for Moreto 's work, 
if they are corroborated in the remaining, unanalyzed plays by 
him. 

There are also positive tests. Moreto has two personal tricks 
of writing which may be mentioned, though it would be a mis- 
take to lay too much stress upon them. The more important is 
the form which his songs assume. Many comedias contain a few 
lyrics set to music, introduced on one pretext or another. Some- 
times the singing takes place behind the scenes, sometimes on 



is The 6-syllable assonants appear in some songs, el Desden, II, iii; 
la milagrosa Election, I, xvi; la misma Conciencia, I, vii. But I have never 
considered the forms used in songs as having any connection with those 
of the dialogued drama, nor do I add their numbers to the total lines of 
the play. To do so would make no practical difference in the results, but 
songs are structurally outside the drama proper. 



164 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

the stage. Tirso uses the greatest possible variety of meters in 
his songs ; Alarcon is not lyrical at all, and avoids them ; Moreto 
likes to introduce music, but very seldom lets the words form 
more than a simple quatrain. Sometimes the four lines make 
a redondilla, but far more often plain octosyllabic assonants, or 
romance. Occasionally the lines are only six syllables in length 
(cf. note 15). And these assonanted songs usually do not fit 
into a laisse of dialogue of the same assonance. Those of Matos 
Fragoso, who is likewise fond of musical quatrains, usually do. 

In the 30 plays of Moreto, there are but three examples of 
songs more than four lines in length. Other late dramatists 
have the same method, to how great an extent I do not know. 

The other characteristic habit is what may be called ' ' incrus- 
tation" — the insertion of a short lyrical or emphatic passage in 
one meter in the midst of another which continues beyond it. 
The interrupting part is usually in decimas, and the matrix 
redondillas, but sometimes romance (cf. el Defensor de su agra- 
vio, I, ii ; III, iv ; el Valient e justiciero, II, xiv, etc) . In one case a 
speech in octava rima is injected into a passage in silva (Lo que 
puede la aprehension, I, vi). The practice is by no means un- 
known in other dramatists, but I think not to so great an extent. 

The sonnet is slightly commoner in Moreto than in Alarcon ; 
it averages 6.6 lines per play. Here, however, the order of the 
tiercets is nearly always cdcdcd. 

As to the silva, Moreto has examples of all four types. The 
strict aAbBcC occurs in Como se vengan los nobles, II, xiii, and 
la Confusion de un jardin, I, viii, ix. Type 2 is common; type 
3 rare (el Poder de la amistad, I, vi) ; type 4, slightly more fre- 
quent (el Caballero, III, vi-viii; el Defensor de su agravio, III, 
xiii; las Travesuras de Panto ja, II, ix, II, xiii). In Moreto there 
is always a tendency toward the long lines, joined in couplets. 
Hence it is not surprising that strict pareados de cndecasilabos 
are a favorite form with him. Often, passages that I have classed 
as silva are really pareados with a few exceptions in rime-order 
or length of line. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH BE AM AT IC VERSIFICATION 165 

It is this fondness for couplets, undoubtedly, which causes 
blank verse to be entirely absent from his plays. 

There is an interesting study to be made in the forms of the 
lira, and it is possible that it may shed light on the habits of dra- 
matic writers. The lira, of course, as used in the comedias, 10 
always indicates a six-line strophe, with a rime-scheme of either 
ababcc or ab~bacc. But, although the rimes offer no room for indi- 
viduality, there is room for no end of variety in the length of the 
different lines; the hendecasyllable and its quebrado the hepta- 
syllable are placed at will, with the exception that the last line 
must be of eleven syllables. This freedom renders the lira 
susceptible of much change in mood ; predominance of short lines 
making it light and lyrical, of long ones, grave. Good writers 
always keep the same scheme throughout a given passage. 

The commonest arrangement is this : aBaBcC. I say the 
commonest, because this form occurs in more than half the ex- 
amples from Tirso, and in Lope it is almost a constant : exceptions 
to it are rare. 

Yet, by a curious chance, this "regular" type of lira does 
not appear at all in the nine examples found in Alarcon, though 
it does in the false Tejedor de Segovia, I, xvi-xviii. Alarcon 
prefers some unusual arrangements : 

ABaBCC. Las Paredes oyen, I, x; Quien engana, III, xx. 

aBaBCC. El Anticristo, I ; Ganar amigos, III, v. 

abbacC. La Crueldad por el honor,!, xi-xii ; la Prueba, I, vi. 

ABaBcC. La Industria y la suerte, III, ii. 

ABABCC. La Amistad castigada, II, iii. 

ABbACC. La Cueva de Salamanca, III, iii-iv. 

Moreto's 30 plays, yield 7 passages of lira. Three of these 
show slovenly writing, for he was too indolent to stick to the 
same scheme throughout (el Desden, I, ii — iii ; el Defensor de su 
agravio, III, xiii ; el Licenciado Vidriera, I,ix). There are plenty 
of other evidences, by the way, that Moreto was not a finished 



is The name lira has been given also to the five-line stanza used, for 
example, by Luis de Leon in Vida retirada. See Diaz Eengifo, Arte 
poetica, 1644, cap. 63. 



166 



LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



versifier, despite his small output and his lifting of other men's 
plots. Frequent faulty rimes indicate that he deserved the epi- 
thet of paresseux which Fitzmaurice-Kelly bestowed upon him. 

Of the passages of lira that follow a definite scheme, no two 
are alike, and only two correspond to any found in Alarcon: 

AbaBCC. El Defensor de su agravio, II, xiii. 

AbAbCC. Ibid., Ill, viii. 

ABABCC. El Voder de la amistad, III, i-ii. 

abbacC. Primero es la honra, I, viii. 

It is a strange chance, if it be a chance, that there is no ex- 
ample in Alarcon or in Moreto 's 30 plays of the lira I have called 
"regular," that is, aBaBcC. Did these men disdain the scheme 
which in Lope had become stereotyped and go out of the way to 
avoid it? 

The Biblioteca de out ores espanoles presents only one of the 
few plays of Moreto classed as dudosas by Luis Fernandez- 
Guerra — Todo es enredos amor. I give in table 4 its analysis, 
and those of three plays in which Moreto collaborated with other 
men. 

Table 4 — Comedias Connected With Moreto 





o 

T3 


a 


"3 


a 


> 


c3 


pj 


Title 


03 




A - 


o 


w 


o 

O 


o 

m 


Caer para 


84 


145 




342 e-o 








levantar 


84 






112 a-a 








2660 








204 i-a 








Act II 


80 

84 
28 


125 




112 e-o 
252 e-a 
150 i-o 








Act III 


144 

72 




120 


306 a-e 
152 i-a 


64 

4° 







Total, 



576 
21%. 



270 120 



1630 
61% 



64 



Eh Miscellaneous 

Sc. iv ; one prose letter 

Sc. iv-vi; the first re- 

dondilla passage con- 
tains songs in 7- 
syllable assonants 
worked in two lines 
at a time, as half 
redondillas 
Sc. vi; song, 4; 7-syl- 

lable assonants 
Sc. xvii; portions of a 
Latin hymn 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 



167 



Table 4 — (Continued) 



436 





o 

T3 


a 


c3 

a 

3 


a 

S 


c3 


c3 
> 

a 




o 




Title 




3 


P 


O 


02 


O 


o 
w. 


0> 


Miscellaneous 


La fingida 




















Arcadia 


96 




60 


262 a-e 


20 








Sc. i; songs, letrilla 


2614 


64 
76 






360 a-o 


4° 








form, 18 


Act II 


44 
156 




100 


290 e-o 
156 i-o 










Sc. ix; songs, popular 
forms, 16 

Sc. ix; 6-syllable asson- 
ants in i, 48 

Sc.ix; 8-svllable coup- 
lets, 68* 


Act III 






70 
70 


314 e-o 
242 e-a 


118 

4° 








Sc. xvi; song, popular 
form, 5 



' 


16% 






62% 






La Fuerza del 














natural 


144 






458 a-a 


84 




2827 


200 
196 








4° 




Act II 


60 1 

40 

60 

36 

48 

8 

4 

16 

8 

112 


35 


10 


98 e-a 
64 e-a 
210 i-o 
42 i-o 
16 e-o 
10 e-o 

4 e-o 
14 e-o 
32 e-o 

4 e-o 
34 e-o 






Act III 




10 




80 e-a 
S 66 e-a 
I 104 6 
f 200 a-o 
\ 224 i-o 
[ 96 a 




Sc. vii; one prose con 

tract 

Sc. xvii; song, ro- 

— mance, 4 


Total, 


932 
33% 


45 


10 


1756 
62% 


84 




Todo es enredos 














amor 


104 






634 e-a 




Sc. vi; one prose lettei 


3108 








486 e-o 






Act II 


88 
52 
56 






334 e-a 
202 i-o 
206 e-o 






Act III 


100 






200 i-a 
646 e-o 






Total, 


400 
13% 






2708 
87% 







1 Four lines are repeated in burlesque by the gracioso, on the same rimes. 



168 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Caer para levantar is specifically signed by Moreto, Cancer 
and Matos Fragoso, but we are not told the share of each. The 
versification offers nothing especially worthy of note. One point 
only differs from the common usage of Moreto : the meters change 
often within the scene, and sometimes even in the midst of a 
speech. The latter phenomenon is rarely found, and in a careful 
writer like Alarcon I believe never. The percentages are like 
those of Moreto, and the form of silva is his entirely. 

La fingida Arcadia (reprinted in Bibl. aut. esp., XIV, 537) 
was included in the posthumous Segunda parte of Moreto, but 
in other editions was generally ascribed to Tres ingenios, Cal- 
deron, Moreto and "don N. N./' that is, an unknown party. 
Vera Tasis thought the last act by Calderon, and Hartzenbusch 
agreed. 17 Some of the remarks of modern critics may serve as 
a type specimen of the uncertainty of judgments based on style. 
Hartzenbusch, in a note to the words ' ' Don Carlos ' ' in the second 
act of la fingida Arcadia says: "En la Jornada primera y en 
la tercera no se nombra a Carlos con Don: esta particularidad y 
la diferencia general del estilo prueban que este acto [the second] 
no es de Moreto ni de Calderon. ' ' But Luis Fernandez-Guerra : 
"en efecto, en la Jornada segunda se hallan algunos rasgos car- 
act eristicos de su [Moreto 's] estilo." 

My opinion accords entirely with that of Hartzenbusch. If 
the distinguished authors of the play divided their labor up by 
acts, Moreto certainly did not write the second. It contains 
6-syllable assonants, which I have not found in him so far, and, 
in addition, sixty-eight 8-syllable couplets. This is a remarkable 
feature, and I do not recall having seen this peculiar form in 
dialogue anywhere else. 

The third act, supposedly by Calderon, has no redondillas. 
I will speak of that matter under the next head. 

La Fuerza del natural is signed by Cancer and Moreto. The 
first two acts are not unusual, except for the game of forfeits 
in the second, which brings about a highly developed case of 
1 ' incrustation. ' ' 



See Bibl.. aut. esp., XIV, 537, note; 545, note; XXXIX, xxxiv. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 169 

But Act III possesses some remarkable features. It is prac- 
tically written entirely in romance meter ; a burlesque legal docu- 
ment in prose, and one decima of a letter are the only interrup- 
tions. The case is very rare, so far as my knowledge extends, 
but probably further investigation of the later dramatists would 
reveal others. Matos Fragoso has at least one such act (Juan 
Labrador, III). 

This condition entails another, that of bringing together 
several laisses of romance without any other meter to separate 
them. This is quite rare in Tirso, not common in Alarcon, 
slightly more usual in Moreto, and, so far as I yet know, not 
found in Lope. The example of three laisses in sequence is not 
easily matched in the early dramatists (but it is found in Tirso, 
la Joy a de las montanas, III, iii, iv, vi). Later it was common 
enough, as in Matos Fragoso. 

Being entirely in romance, Act III is ipso facto entirely with- 
out redondillas, and this, again, is a case not to be duplicated in 
the works of Moreto which I have examined, and not easily in 
the first half of the siglo de oro. I know only the third act of 
Lope's el ultimo Godo. It is true, however, that Moreto has acts 
with very few redondillas, and Matos Fragoso can show plenty 
with none. 

All in all, then, the third act of la Fuerza del natural is quite 
out of the ordinary. Fernandez-Guerra has this to say in his 
Catdlogo razonado (p. xxxiv) : "No es facil averiguar como 
en ella dividieron el trabajo sus autores, pues en toda se encuentra 
algo que parece de Moreto. Sin embargo, a voces dice la tercera 
Jornada no pertenecer a don Jeronimo Cancer." Cancer, it 
appears, wrote practically no plays alone, 18 but he was a favorite 
collaborator with Moreto, Calderon and others. The only dra- 
matic works of his that I have seen are Act III of Enfermar con 
el remedio and Act II of la Margarita preciosa, both in Bib I. aut. 
esp., XIV. Each shows a preponderance of romance verse, but 
nothing like the unique characteristics of Act III of la Fuerza 
del natural. 



i8<<p r si solo unicamente dos burlescas y algun entremes" (Barrera). 



170 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Todo es enredos amor, y diablos son las mujeres was first 
printed in 1671 (Parte 37 de comedias nuevas) under the name 
of Diego de Figueroa y Cordoba; later it was included in the 
Verdadera tercera parte de las comedias de don Agustin Moreto, 
1676 (Barrera, Catdlogo, p. 1605). The posthumous Tercera 
parte inspires little confidence, and attributions of the Parte 37 
de comedias nuevas no more ; so that it becomes correspondingly 
desirable to find an external means of determining the author- 
ship of Todo es enredos. A study of the versification may be 
useful, but in order to have a basis for comparison it is necessary 
to know the usual system of D. Diego de Figueroa and Cordoba. 
This is by no means easy. He was an obscure dramatist who 

Table 5. — Two Plays of the Brothers Figueroa y C6rdoba 



-S a -3 fl s =8 5 o 

Title & <y P\ (^ a2O02E-t Miscellaneous 
Mentir y mudarse 

enuntiempo 92 100 312 e-o 

2914 376 e-a 

Act II 88 90 e-a 

116 40 104 e-o 

76 76i-a 

24 124 i-o 

52 220 e-o 

Act III 128 264 e-a Two prose letters 

48 186 a-o 

32 222 a-a 

144 e-o 

Total, 656 140 2118 

22% 72% 



Pobreza, amor 316 180 150 e-o One prose letter 

y fortuna 68 178 i-a 

2954 92 i-o 

Act II 180 238 e-o 108 

38 90 i-o 4° 

200 ...' 64u-a 



120 

Act III 220 118 a-o 

68 184 e-a 

36 210 e-o 

96 i-o 



Total, 1246 180 1420 108 

42% 48% 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 171 

was accustomed to write in conjunction with his brother, D. Jose. 
Barrera cites only three plays published in the name of D. Diego 
alone. The only knowledge I have of his methods is drawn from 
the two comedias included in the Biblioteca de autores espanoles, 
XLVIL These stand in the name of both the brothers. For 
what light they may shed I give their analysis in table 5. 

It is evident at a glance that Todo es enredos amor partakes 
of the form of the Figueroa brothers more than of that of the 
Italian-Spanish playwright. The muse of the former is singu- 
larly monotonous externally, shifting regularly back and forth 
between redondilla and romance, with a preponderance of the 
latter. The assonances are the easiest and most obvious in the 
language. Pobreza, amor y fortuna contains four different 
meters, 90 per cent being redondilla and romance. Mentir y 
mudarse has but 3, and 94 per cent is in those two meters. Now, 
Todo es enredos amor has but the two meters, and is a rarity in 
that respect. At least, I have a record of only two others with 
so little variety: Castro's los mal Casados de Valencia, entirely 
in redondillas, and Matos' Juan Labrador, in redondillas and 
romance. No doubt there are others in the decadent period. 

Alarcon uses from 3 meters in a play (No hay mal que pot- 
Men no venga) to 9 (la Prueba de las promesas) ; Tirso from 4 
(la Celosa de si misma, Desde Toledo a Madrid, Santo y sastfe) 
to 10 (la Santa Juana 1 ). As for Moreto, there are from 4 to 7 
meters employed in most of his plays, and el Desden con el desdcn 
has 8. 

This line of argument is far from conclusive against Moreto 's 
authorship, for the evidence is all negative. Yet one can say 
that if Moreto wrote this piece it has: (1) a larger proportion 
of romance and a smaller proportion of redondilla than any other 
of his comedias; and (2) a less variety of meters than any other 
of his. On the other hand, it corresponds well enough to the style 
of the Figueroas. Todo es enredos amor has the versification of 
the very end of the siglo de oro, and Moreto in no way belongs 
to that period. 



172 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

If one were to take the list of authentic comedias by Moreto, 
as printed by Fernandez-Guerra (Bibl. aut. esp., XXXIX, xlvii), 
and excise all but those which have no shadow of doubt upon 
them, there would remain, apparently, only those printed in the 
Primer a parte de las comedias de don Agustin Moreto, 1654 (the 
only collection of his works that the author lived to see) ; those 
which bear his name in the final verses ; 19 those which have never 
been attributed to any other than to him ; and those which exist 
in autograph manuscripts. How many would be gathered to- 
gether under these heads I cannot know, at this distance from 
Madrid. It is certain that Moreto 's title to many of the plays 
usually regarded as his can be shaken by those who desire to poke 
a finger into the card-house of siglo de oro attributions. It is 
known that the Segunda and Tercera partes of Moreto cannot be 
relied on. 

Accordingly, Sr. N. Alonso Cortes declines to believe that 
Moreto wrote la Ocasion hace al ladron. 20 It was printed in 
Moreto 's Tercera parte (1676), but in the Parte 27 de comedias 
varias (1667) had appeared in the name of Matos. Sr. Cortes' 
strongest reason for desiring to remove Moreto 's name from the 
play seems to be that he dislikes to believe his author guilty of 
such outrageous plagiarism. La Ocasion hace al ladron is, of 
course, only a revised version of la Villana de Yallecas, by Tirso 
de Molina. But Moreto, of all writers, can least easily be de- 
fended from charges of theft. Why should the man who under- 
took to polish Lope 7 s Infanzon de Illescas not improve the plot of 
la Villana de Yallecas? It is certainly susceptible of improve- 
ment. At any rate, the versification is perfectly characteristic 
of Moreto, far more so than of Matos, who does not use quintillas. 
so far as I know. 



is Moreto was not much given to placing his name in his plays. Only 
two of the Fernandez-Guerra collection are signed in this way, En el mayor 
Imposible and el Parecido en la corte. As before stated, Caer para levantar 
bears the names of Matos, Cancer and Moreto, and la Fuerza del natural 
those of Cancer and Moreto. 

20 Moreto, Teatro, ed. La Lectura, Madrid, 1916, pp. 17-18. 



STUDIES IN SPANISH DRAMATIC VERSIFICATION 173 

In fact, no play of those analyzed in table 3 offers any 
suspicions features except los Jaeces de Castillo,, and there is 
no chance to attack it, for the writer placed it in his own Primer a 
parte. 21 

In the matter of chronology I have nothing to offer for 
Moreto. No systematic attempt has yet been made to attach 
dates to his plays. That is a work which remains to be done. 



!i Cf. above, p. 162. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND 
CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 



BY 
JOHN TAGGART CLARK 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CON- 
CEPTUAL PROGRESS 



BY 

JOHN TAGGAET CLAEK 



The vocabulary of a people affords direct testimony as to 
two aspects of that people's mentality — its capacity to observe 
and its interest in what it observes. The spoken and written 
symbols nsed by a people for communicating its ideas, mark off 
clearly and unmistakably the level of that people's conceptual 
achievement, the system of classification by which it organizes 
the data of its experience. This system of classification, one 
among an infinite number of possible ones, is undergoing con- 
stant modification and revision. New classes are added, based 
upon new elements of experience, or upon the recognition of dis- 
tinctions in what was previously undifferentiated, and if they 
become of sufficient interest to a sufficient number, are main- 
tained ; and old classes, having outlived their interest, become 
obsolescent and finally disappear. It is clear therefore that there 
never can be entire correspondence, as regards ideational con- 
tent, between the vocabularies of any two peoples, or between 
any two periods in the vocabulary of one people. On the other 
hand, there can never be complete difference. In the ideational 
system of any two peoples, in any two periods, as revealed in 
their vocabularies, will appear certain correspondences, both in 
matter and in manner of growth; and upon the basis of such 
correspondences, provided they are found with sufficient fre- 



176 LITEBAHY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

quency and regularity, we may endeavor to ascertain those 
factors which enter most fundamentally into the growth of con- 
ceptual intelligence. In this article, it will be my aim to direct 
attention more concretely than has yet been done, so far as I 
am aware, to the importance of studying comparatively the 
lexicological evolution of different peoples, in order to arrive at 
a more clear understanding of the essential principles underly- 
ing conceptual progress in general. 

Our capacity to form ideas depends upon our capacity to 
detect resemblances in the midst of differences, to separate the 
resemblances from the differences, and to group together into 
classes on the basis of these resemblances the data of experience — 
in other words, to abstract and to generalize. In the measure 
that the resemblances become less numerous, less frequent, less 
obvious, and more obscured by the increasing variety and com- 
plexity of the differences, the task of abstraction becomes more 
difficult and the resulting concept is a mental product of a 
higher order. It is possible therefore, at least in theory, to 
classify the words of a language from the point of view of con- 
ceptual gradation,, that is, as mental products of a lower or higher 
order, according as an analysis of their meanings reveals a lower 
or higher level of abstraction. Let us consider, for example, 
such a conceptual series as the following: Rover, Newfound- 
land, big black dog, big dog, dog, domestic quadruped, quad- 
ruped, mammal, vertebrate, animal, animate object, object. At 
each successive step of this series, it will be observed, there is 
an increase in extension and a decrease in intension, in other 
words, an increase in the number of individuals in the class, a 
decrease in the number of attributes common to all members of 
the class. There is, in consequence, a gradual decrease in the 
proportion of resemblances to differences, calling into play in 
corresponding measure a gradually higher level of abstraction. 
As the series progresses, the mental image awakened tends to 
become less clear, while the word, on the other hand, tends to 
become more and more the chief element in consciousness. 

What has been termed "the hopeless poverty of the power 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PEOGEESS 111 

of abstraction," 1 universally characteristic of savage races, finds 
unanimous and abundant confirmation in the accounts of 
travelers, missionaries and others who have made a study of 
primitive culture. The languages of savage tribes, to quote 
Ribot r 

. . . considerees dans leurs caracteres les plus generaux, revelent une 
notable impuissance a depasser les ressemblances les plus simples, une 
incapacite incurable pour des generalisations etendues; elles s'elevent 
a peine au-dessus du concret. . . . Dans les langues barbares, il y a des 
termes pour designer non seulement chaque espece de chien, mais leur 
age, la eouleur de leur poil, leurs qualites bonnes ou mauvaises, etc. De 
meme pour le cheval: des mots speciaux design ent ses varietes, tous les 
mouvements qu'il se donne; ils indiquent s'il est monte, non monte, 
epouvante, s'il se detache, etc. Les Americains du Nord ont des mots 
speciaux pour le chene noir, le chene blanc et le chene rouge, mais, aucun 
pour le chene en general; a plus forte raison pour arbre en general. Les 
indigenes du Bresil peuvent denommer les differentes parties du corps, 
mais non le corps en general (Lubbock). Chez plusieurs peuples de 
1 'Oceanie, un vocable special est employe pour la queue d 'un chien, un autre 
pour celle d'un mouton, etc., mais on ne peut designer une queue en 
general. De meme, aucun terme pour designer la vache, mais des mots 
distincts pour la vache rouge, blanche, brune (Sayce). 

"The Malay," says Crawfurd, 3 "is very deficient in abstract 
words; and the usual train of the ideas of the people who speak 
it does not lead them to make a frequent use of even the few they 
possess. They have copious words for colors, yet borrow the 
word color, warna, from the Sanskrit. "With this poverty of 
the abstract is united a redundancy of the concrete." Craw- 
furd gives many additional examples similar to those cited by 
Ribot. The aborigines of Tasmania, according to Milligan, 4 had 
' ' no words representing abstract ideas ; for each variety of gum- 
tree, wattle-tree, etc., they had a name, but they had no equiv- 
alent for the expression of a tree." Romanes affirms that "the 
Sechuana has no fewer than ten words all meaning 'horned 



i Farrar, F. W., Chapters on Language (London, 1878), p. 45. 
2 Eibot, T. A., L 'Evolution des idees generates (Paris, 1897), p. 109. 
s Crawfurd, J., Malay Grammar (London, 1852), I, 68. 
4 Milligan, Vocabulary of the Dialects of some of the Aboriginal Tribes 
of Tasmania, p. 34. Eeference quoted from Eomanes. 



178 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

cattle ' " ; 5 and the same writer, citing Latham, continues to say 
that a "Kurd of the Zaza tribe was not able to conceive a hand 
or father, except so far as they were related to himself, .or some- 
thing else ; and so essentially concrete rather than abstract were 
his notions that he combined the pronoun with the substantive 
whenever he had a part of the human body or a degree of con- 
sanguinity to name, saying sere-min, 'my head,' and pie-min, 
'my father.' " "The dialect of the Zulus," says Sayce, 6 "is 
rich in nouns denoting different objects of the same genus, ac- 
cording to some variety of color, redundancy or deficiency of 
members, or some other peculiarity." In many Indian lan- 
guages of North America, there is no separate word for eye, 
hand, arm, or the other parts or organs of the body; they are 
found only with a pronoun incorporated or attached, signifying 
m y eye, your hand, his hand, etc. 7 

Plus la mentalite d'un groupe social se rapproche de la forme pre- 
logique, plus aussi les images-concepts y predominent. Le langage en 
temoigne par 1 'absence a peu pres complete de termes generiques, corre- 
spondant aux idees proprement generales, et par 1 'extraordinaire abon- 
dance des termes specifiques, c'est-a-dire designant des etres ou objets 
dont une image particuliere et precise se dessine quand on les nomme. 
Eyre avait deja fait cette remarque pour les Australiens. II n 'y a pas 
de termes generiques comme arbre, poisson, oiseau, etc., mais seulement 
des termes specifiques qui s'appliquent a chaque variete particuliere 
d 'arbre, de poisson, d 'oiseau, etc. Les indigenes du district du lac 
Tyers, Gippsland, n'ont pas de mot pour arbre, poisson, oiseau, etc. 
Tous les etres sont distingues par leur noms propres; breme, perche, 
mulet, etc. 8 

The same incapacity for generalizing is found among primitive 
peoples in the expression of qualities and acts. "The Tasma- 
nians, when they wanted to denote what we mean by tall and 
round, had to say long legs and like a ball or the moon or some 



s Eomanes, J. G., Mental Evolution in Man (London, 1888), p. 351. 

6 Sayce, A. H., Principles of Comparative Philology (London, 1875), p. 
221. 

7 Powell, J. W., "The Evolution of Language," Eep. Bur. Ethn. 
Smithson. Inst., I (1880), 9. 

8 Levy-Bruhl, L., Les Fonctions mentales dans les societes inferieures 
(Paris, 1910), p. 190. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 179 

other round object, eking out their scanty vocabulary by the 
help of gesture." 9 And to quote again from Ribot: 

Les Indiens du Nord de l'Amerique ont des mots particuliers pour 
dire: laver sa figure, la figure d'un autre, le Huge, les ustensiles, etc.; 
en tout trente mots, mais aucun pour laver en general. De meme pour 
dire: manger du pain, des fruits, de la viande, etc; pour f rapper du pied, 
de la main, de la hache, etc.; pour couper du bois, de la viande ou tout 
autre objet, il y a des termes speciaux, mais aucun terme pour dire 
simplement: manger, f rapper, couper (Sayce, Hovelacque).™ 

Without multiplying further the examples, we may conclude 
with Sayce that "all over the world, indeed, wherever we come 
across a savage race, or an individual who has been unaffected 
by the civilization around him, we find this primitive inability 
to separate the particular from the universal by isolating the 
individual word, and extracting it, as it were, from the ideas 
habitually associated with it." 11 

If we ascend from the realm of perceptual to that of ' ' super- 
perceptual" ideas (of the type -fidelity, invalidate, advantageous, 
and the like), the classification of words as mental products of 
a lower or higher order becomes much more difficult, owing to 
the fact that the criteria upon which such a classification must 
be based are much more obscure and elusive. In learning such 
words as papa, ball, milk, hot, yellow, cry, run, and the like, 
there is established in the mind of the child a direct and imme- 
diate association between the spoken symbol, and a present per- 
ceptual experience, and this association tends to become, with 
a minimum of repetition and of mental effort, automatic and 
spontaneous. The element of conscious reflection is entirely ab- 
sent, at least as regards such perceptual words as are of earliest 
and most frequent occurrence. In the acquisition of such words 
as reciprocal, condone, ambiguity, heirloom, incompatible, assim- 
ilate, etc., the mental process involved is essentially the reverse. 
When a word of this type is heard or read, the only perceptual 



Sayce, A. H., Introduction to the Science of Language (London, 1900), 
I, 101. 

io Biliot, op. cit., p. 111. 

11 Sayce, Science of Language, II, 6. 



180 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

elements presenting themselves to the mind are such as are sug- 
gested by the particular circumstances or conditions incident to 
the application of the word in a particular case. They are there- 
fore of purely accidental and variable character and tend to 
obscure rather than clarify the inherent and permanent meaning 
of the word. The latter must be inferred from the relation of 
the word to the other parts of the context, and the more clearly 
these parts are understood, and the more frequent the repetition 
of the word in other contexts, the more accurate and easy the 
inference tends to become. The great majority of such words, 
for the great majority of individuals, are learned, if learned 
at all, at a much later period than those relating to familiar 
perceptual experience ; as compared with the latter, they require 
for their learning a greater amount of repetition, a higher level 
of conceptual growth, and greater reflective faculty. They are 
learned for the most part from the written rather than the 
spoken language, and it is in the literature rather than in popular 
speech that they have been chiefly evolved. And in the race, as 
in the individual, the capacity to form superperceptual ideas is 
of late development. It does not manifest itself to any consid- 
erable extent in the vocabulary of a people until the latter has 
begun to produce a literature and has attained to some power 
of subjective analysis. 

The exuberant wealth of concrete detail which we have seen 
to be so universally characteristic of savage languages finds its 
precise counterpart, as would be expected, in an amazing inca- 
pacity for superperceptual analysis. The natives of Hawaii, 
while possessing many separate words to differentiate the force 
and direction of the wind, have but one word, aloha, to express 
love, friendship, esteem, kindness, gratitude, etc. 12 "Some of 
the lower races like the New Caledonians, who cannot be made 
to understand the abstract notions of ' yesterday ' and ' tomorrow, ' 
are equally unable to express the notion of 'today.' " 13 "In 
American and Polynesian languages," says Farrar, 14 "there are 



12 Eibot, ibid., p. 109. 

isSayce, Prin. Comp. Phil. p. 89. 

i* Farrar, op. cit.. p. 45, note 3. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 181 

forms for 'I am well/ 'I am here,' etc., but not for 'I am.' In 
Elliott's Indian Bible, 'I am that I am' is rendered 'I do, I do.' " 
"The Mohicans have forms for 'I love him,' 'I love you,' but 
no verb meaning ' love, ' and in some Eskimo tribes are separate 
verbs for 'I wish to eat meat,' 'I wish to eat soup,' but no verb 
for 'I wish.' " 15 "There are dialects which are in a state of 
infantile bewilderment before the problem of numeration ; they 
have words for 'one,' 'two,' and 'three'; but all beyond is an 
undivided 'many.' " 1G Many other similar examples could be 
adduced, and the testimony of those who have studied the lan- 
guages of primitive peoples is of striking uniformity in this 
regard. 17 

The same incapacity for precise discrimination in the ex- 
pression of superperceptual ideation is typical in fact not only 
of savage tribes but of all forms of primitive mentality. As a 
universal characteristic of the speech of children and of the 
uncultured, it is too familiar to call for extended comment. 18 
Of especially rich significance in this regard, however, is the 
testimony of French and the other Romanic languages. In each 
of these languages, without exception, the so-called popular 
words, or words which have remained uninterruptedly in popular 
speech from the vulgar Latin period to the present day, present 
a marked contrast, as regards ideational content, with the so- 
called learned words, or words which have been borrowed di- 
rectly into the literature, at different periods, from classic Latin. 
Among the former, the proportion of words expressing super- 
perceptual concepts is surprisingly small, and those that are 



is Ibid., p. 171. 

is Whitney, W. D., The Life and Growth of Language (New York), 
1876), p. 20. 

1 7 See especially Eomanes, Eibot, and Levy-Bruhl, in their above-men- 
tioned works. 

18 See especially Ellison, "Children's Capacity for Abstract Thought." 
Amer. Journal of Psychology, XIX (1908), 253ff. ; Farrar, op. cit., p. 49; 
Eomanes, op. cit., pp. 296, 317; Steinthal, H., Psychologie und Sprachwissen- 
schaft; ed. 4 (Berlin, 1881), p. 401; Egger, E., Observations et reflexions sur 
le developpement de I 'intelligence et du langage chez les enfants, Paris, 1879; 
Stout, G. E., Analytic Psychology (London, 1896), II, 228; Ereyer, W., Die 
Seele des Kindes, Leipzig, 1890; Taine, H., De I 'intelligence, Baris, 1870; 
Ferez, B., First Three Years of Childhood, London, 1 889. 



182 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

found are of distinctly general and elemental character (com- 
pare, for example, joie, peur, ame, douleur, espoir, age, amour, 
an, saison, temps, faux, vrai, bon, beau, dire, parler, demander, 
aimer, sembler, compter, craindre, etc.). The learned words, on 
the contrary, consist very largely of words expressing purely 
abstract and philosophical conceptions, which had never pene- 
trated into the speech of the masses. In French, for example, 
the list of popular words derived from classic Latin nouns in a 
are the following: Abbe, abb aye, abbesse, aveline, ete, age, agneau, 
aile, aubin, ail, out el, alun, auge, ami, tante, amour, ampoule, 
cane, ancre, anneau, anguille, angoisse, ame, an, abeille, ache, avril, 
eau, aigle, erigne, arbre, arche, arbalete, arc, ardeur, aire, argent, 
arete, arme, art, dne, oreille, or, avoine, oncle. 

In contrast to the preceding may be presented the following 
learned nouns, all expressing superperceptual ideas, found in 
the first forty-one pages of the Dictionnaire Generate {a — 
adversite), the great majority of them having been introduced 
into the language since the fourteenth century: abdication, ab- 
ducteur, abduction, aberration, abjection, abjuration, ablatif, 
ablation, ablegat, ablution, abnegation, abolition, abomination, 
abreviation, abrogation, absence, absolution, absorption, absten- 
tion, abstinence, abstraction, absurdite, abus, acceleration, accent, 
acception, accession, accident, accise, acclamation, accommoda- 
tion, accumulation, accusation, acerbite, acidite, acquisition, 
acrimonie, action, activite, addition, adduction, ademption, 
adepte, adhesion, adition, adjectif, adjonction, adjudication, ad- 
juration, adminicule, administration, admiration, admission, 
admonition, adolescence, adoption, adoration, adulateur, adul- 
teration, adulter e, adverbe, adversaire, adversite. 19 



19 It is important to note that most learned words expressing perceptual 
or semi-perceptual ideas are either of technical or scientific character 
(clavicule, quadrupede, crustace, etc.), or of wide generalization (solide, 
liquide, animal, vegetal, etc.). In some cases, adjectives expressing per- 
ceptual qualities are popular, while their corresponding abstract nouns are 
learned (tiede — tepidite, chauve — calvitie, aigu — acuite, etc). Of particu- 
larly fruitful significance for the student of lexical psychology are the so- 
called doublets, or cases where a single classic Latin word has given both a 
popular and a learned form, generally with difference of meaning (frele — 
fragile (L. fragilis) ; hotel — hopital (L. hospitale) ; nager — naviguer (L. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PBOGEESS 183 

Of still more striking significance, in tracing the progress of 
superperceptual analysis, is the enormous superiority of modern 
French over old French in the qualification of abstract nouns. 
In ten pages of Villehardouin (1165-1213), taken from Paris et 
Langlois, Chrestomathie du Moyen Age (Paris, 1903), pp. 186ff., 
are the following passages in which an abstract noun is qualified 
by an adjective : 

Sachiez que ce fu une des plus dotoses choses (redoutables 
entreprises) a faire. — Et les autres genz qui n'avoient mie si 
grant mestier (si grande utilite) en bataille. — li emperere les 
atendoit a granz conroiz (avec de grands preparatifs). — li Grieu 
firent mout grand semblant del retenir. — De noz barons fu tens 
li conseuz. — et le fist mout bien, si qu'il en ot grant pris (beau- 
coup de gloire). — Enqui refu granz li estors (le combat). — et fu 
mout grant merveille. — Lors fu li conseuz des barons texts (tel) . — 
bien fu fiere chose a regarder. — Lors se porpenserent d'un mout 
bon engien (expedient). — granz fais (une grande quantite) de 
pierres lor jetoit on sour eus. — dont granz damages (dommage) 
fu. — si que grant pris li en dona on. — par vive force monterent 
des chevaliers. — li lius (la clameur) ere si granz. — Or porrez oir 
estrange proece (prouesse). — Lors veissiez (vous auriez vu) 
assant grant et merveillos. — Or oez estrange miracle. — envoier 
a si grant foison (en si grande quantite) . — fu mout granz sens. — 
cil avoient si grant foison de gent. — Bien sembloit perillose chose. 
— Li nostre estoient ordene en tel maniere. — onques (jamais) 
Dieus ne traist (tira) de plus grant peril nule gent. — il n'i ot 
si hardi qui n'eust grant joie. — oez les miracles Nostre Seignor 
come eles sont beles. 

It is to be noted that in sixteen out of twenty-five examples 
the qualifying adjective is grand. In the first ten pages of 
Hugo's Les Miserables (Super's edition) are the following: 



navigare), etc. A. Braehet, in his Dictionnaire des Doublets (Paris, 1868), 
gives some two thousand examples of such double formations. As regards 
the general semantic character of the earliest learned words in French, 
see H. Berger, Die Lehnworter der franzosischen Sprache dltester Zeit, 
Leipzig, 1899; and G. Paris, "Les plus anciens mots d'emprunt du fran- 
cais," Journal des Savants, LXXXIV (1900), 294-307, 356-75. 



184 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Un passant d'un aspect plus miserable. — un homme de 
moyenne taille. — cet ensemble delabre. — rire et parler a grand 
bruit. — plonge dans des reflexions peu sereines. — Cette declar- 
ation, faite d'un ton mesure, mais ferme, parut grave. — II ne se 
retourna pas une settle fois. — une bonne odeur. — vague apparence 
de bien-etre melee a cet autre aspect si poignant— sa desagreable 
rencontre du matin. — II fit au cabaretier un signe imperceptible. 
— quelques paroles a voix basse. — ce spectacle doux et calmant. — 
II frappa au carreau un petit coup tres faible. — un second coup 
— un troisieme coup. — II jeta un nouveau coup d'oeil sur l'etran- 
ger. — A la lueur du jour expirant. — un grondement farouche. 

It is clear therefore that while in the analysis and classifi- 
cation of perceptual experience conceptual progress tends ever 
toward wider generalization, on the other hand, in the develop- 
ment of superperceptual classification it proceeds in precisely 
the opposite direction, that is, toward a more precise and dis- 
criminating specialization, toward greater intension and smaller 
extension, in a word, from that which is most general, elemental 
and obvious to that which is most highly particularized and 
differentiated. According to this view, the word acquisition 
would represent a mental product of higher order than posses- 
sion, omniscience than knowledge, apostrophize than address, 
asseverate than affirm, coincidence than occurrence, democratize 
than reform, etc. In the great majority of cases, however, it is 
difficult if not impossible to determine which of two words within 
a given category represents a higher conceptual achievement than 
the other. Upon what ground, for example, may we say that 
of the four words, annoyance, irritation, resentment, indignation, 
one involves a higher level of abstraction than the other three? 
As a matter of fact, in studying the psycho-lexical evolution of 
different peoples, that which is of essential importance, at least 
as regards superperceptual ideation, is less to establish a strictly 
conceptual gradation of words, than to show, through the history 
of words, the course of progressive discrimination within a given 
conceptual category — in other terms, to show for each successive 
period of a language what new differentiations, within a given 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PEOGEESS 183 

conceptual category, have first received expression. In the 
measure that this growing capacity for analytical particulari- 
zation tends to show correspondence in the psycho-lexical evo- 
lution of different peoples, both as regards ideas expressed and 
the order in which they have received expression, we may hope 
to ascertain more or less clearly those factors and forces of mental 
growth that are characteristic of mankind in general rather than 
of particular peoples. 

It is in the growth of superperceptual ideation, calling into 
play as we have seen an ever-increasing power of reflective 
analysis, that is characterized most strikingly the ascent from 
lower to higher levels of mentality, whether it be from the child 
to the adult, from the ignorant to the cultured, from savage to 
civilized peoples, or from a primitive to an advanced period in 
the history of the race. It is of interest to note, furthermore, 
that as the capacity for abstraction becomes less dependent upon 
the support of purely perceptual experience it tends to become, 
in corresponding measure, more dependent upon the support of 
the word. As the mind progresses from the simplest forms of 
perceptual ideation to the most abstruse and tenuous products 
of metaphysical conception, the relation between thought and 
speech tends to become gradually more intimate, more precise, 
and more stable. As the structure of conceptual intelligence 
becomes more complex, more elaborated, and further removed 
from those elements of the environment directly apprehensible 
by the senses, its synthetic character becomes more marked ; each 
step in advance depends in greater measure on what has gone 
before and also opens the way to still higher elaborations, and 
in the gradual progress of this synthetic organization the value 
of the word as an associative symbol to fix and record each 
successive achievement becomes correspondingly greater. 20 It 
is, therefore, especially in the study of the higher levels of con- 



20 It is noteworthy that in most cases of aphasia, it is proper names, 
especially names of persons, that are forgotten earliest, showing that the 
associative tie between thought and word is weakest where the perceptual 
image is most vivid. For an exceptionally suggestive treatment of the 
growth of conceptual intelligence, especially at the higher levels, see W. 
Mitchell, Structure and Growth of the Mind (London, 1907), pp. 294-415. 



186 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ceptual progress that the testimony of comparative lexicology 
becomes of most direct and unique significance. Nor can there 
be any question but that when this department of lexical re- 
search has received more extensive and penetrating treatment 
it will furnish to the general psychology of cognition results of 
fundamental and far-reaching importance. 

The extent to which the growth of conceptual intelligence 
is governed by fundamental laws, principles or tendencies, is a 
question to which an ultimate solution will be found, if found 
at all, in the testimony of comparative lexicology. That such 
laws, principles or tendencies exist, and that they are no less 
constantly and fundamentally operative in the evolution of super- 
perceptual than of perceptual ideation, there seems little reason 
to question. The striking uniformity already observed in the 
mentality of primitive peoples, the fact now recognized by all 
evolutionists that all mental growth from the lowest to the highest 
levels is of unbroken continuity, the enormously long period 
that must have elapsed since the earliest manifestation of human 
speech, a period compared with which the date of our earliest 
records is but as yesterday, and, most of all, the inherent nature 
of the conceptual process itself, lend strong support to such a view. 

Amid the infinite complexity of factors entering into the 
formation of ideas, there is one factor of constantly predomi- 
nant character — the factor of interest. The power to observe 
and to discriminate depends upon attention, and in any ex- 
perience the degree and direction of attention is generally re- 
garded as primarily dependent upon interest. That which forms 
most frequently the subject of our thought and of our speech 
is that which is of chief interest for us, and with all peoples in 
all periods, those elements of experience and of the environment 
which have tended earliest and most strongly to call into play 
the naming and the predicating faculty are those which have 
been of most vital and most frequent interest to the majority. 
"We know things, we are interested in them, and we act upon 
them," 21 but we know them best, and we think of them, speak 



21 Ibid., p. 57. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PEOGEESS 187 

of them, and act upon them most often in the measure that we 
are most interested in them. The faculty of discrimination is 
stimulated most actively where there is practical advantage to 
be gained; and thus it is easily conceivable that the Sandwich 
Islander should have many different words for expressing the 
force and direction of the wind, and but one word for love, 
friendship, esteem, gratitude, kindness, etc. In the higher realms 
of conception, the principle is the same ; it is the factor of interest 
throughout that is of chief potency in determining the course 
of mental growth. As the material welfare of the individual 
and of the community becomes more secure, capacity for interest 
transcends the immediately perceptual and tends to evolve up- 
ward and outward toward a rudimentary analysis of those 
elements which are beyond the apprehension of the senses. And 
as interest in superperceptual discrimination expands, and the 
power of introspective reflection increases, new distinctions are 
perceived and receive expression in language, and in this gradual 
enrichment of the vocabulary there is a constant tendency toward 
greater precision and greater stability. 22 

In the expression of superperceptual ideation, as has already 
been observed, those words which are the oldest in the language 
and which reflect most faithfully the popular speech of a primi- 
tive period are characterized to a considerable extent by vague 
generality and slight analytical discrimination. They express, 
for the most part, those aspects, relations and subjective states 
which are of most frequent and general interest, and which are 
therefore most elemental and obvious. Those words, on the other 
hand, which have entered the language at a later period, ex- 
pressing interests of more complex and specialized nature, tend 
to become restricted more and more to the language of a limited 
group or stratum of society. The development of technical and 
scientific vocabularies presents striking testimony in this regard. 



22 For some features of this tendency in the evolution of the French 
vocabulary, see the abstract of a paper which I read before the Philological 
Association of the Pacific Coast, in November, 1908. ' ' The Expression of 
Certain Orders of Concepts in Old and Modern French," Trans. Amer. 
Philol. Assoc, XXXIX, liii. 



188 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

The chronological order, therefore, in which within a given con- 
ceptual category successive differentiations have received expres- 
sion in the vocabulary is of essential significance, in that it re- 
flects in general the relative degree of interest underlying them. 

The course of conceptual progress may be regarded, then, as 
running essentially parallel with the growth of interest capacity, 
and it is in the lexical record of different peoples that we shall 
find most clearly and faithfully revealed the successive phases 
of this growth. Now it is plainly evident that the growth of 
interest capacity in any two individuals or in any two peoples 
is never, any more than that of facial features or bodily structure, 
entirely dissimilar. As the homologous parts of the physical 
organism, amid an infinite variety of accidental features, present 
a constant and universal uniformity of location, structure and 
function, so in all peoples, in all periods, successive levels of 
interest capacity tend to appear in a certain order, to evolve in 
a certain direction and to a certain extent. Capacity for interest, 
whether material, esthetic, intellectual, or spiritual, is dependent 
primarily upon sensitiveness to pain or pleasure ; and this sensi- 
tiveness is obviously the result to a considerable degree of pre- 
dispositions both physical and psychic which are of fundamental, 
constant, and universal nature. In comparing the lexicological 
evolution of different peoples, therefore, we may expect to find 
correspondences both as regards the main types of conceptual 
classification and as regards the order in which these types have 
tended to receive expression; and upon the basis of such corre- 
spondences as are found to be most regular, frequent and gen- 
eral we may ultimately hope to determine more clearly those 
fundamental laws, principles, or tendencies underlying the 
growth of conceptual intelligence in general. 

Conceptual progress, in the individual or in the race, is of 
threefold nature. It manifests itself: (1) in the formation of 
new concepts; (2) in greater precision; (3) in greater facility. 
And to this threefold aspect correspond in the vocabulary : ( 1 ) 
the emergence of new concept-symbols; (2) a more discriminat- 
ing application; (3) more frequent and general usage. As the 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PEOGEESS 189 

history of industrial progress is concerned chiefly, however, with 
the appearance of new inventions, rather than with their later 
improvement and diffusion, so the history of conceptual progress 
is concerned primarily with the emergence of new concept- 
symbols, and among these with those especially which have stood 
the test of time. The factor of permanency is obviously of fun- 
damental significance. Those conceptual classifications which, 
having once received expression in the vocabulary, have been 
maintained in continuous usage to the present day, are those 
which are most likely to reflect interest tendencies of funda- 
mental rather than of passing and accidental character, and 
which are most likely therefore to find expression in other lan- 
guages; whereas those classifications which are least apt to find 
expression in other languages are those which, after maintaining 
themselves for a limited period among a limited circle, have 
become obsolete owing to lack of interest for later generations. 

As an example, among many possible ones, of progressive dis- 
crimination, within a given conceptual category, I may present 
the chronology of a certain class of words in English, that of 
verbs expressing different aspects or modalities of language, 
either spoken or written, of the type acknowledge, enunciate, 
eulogize, dissuade, transcribe, and the like. Each word is classi- 
fied according to the earliest example of its use, as given in the 
Oxford Dictionary, in a purely linguistic sense. The list is in- 
tended to include all words not classed as rare, archaic, or ob- 
solete, from a to verify, except for the following supplements 
which were not accessible: still — su; supple — t, and all of the 
letter u. A few words of doubtful inclusion, owing to ambiguity 
of the quotations, are accompanied with an interrogation point. 
The periods distinguished are the following: before 1200, 1200- 
1300, 1301-1350, 1351-1400, thence each half century to 1850, 
1850 to the present. 

Before 1200 
Ask, backbite, bemoan, beseech, bid, bless, bode, call, forbid, 
foresay, forswear, greet, lie, lisp, misteach, miswrite, name, out- 



190 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

law, read, say, shrive, speak, spell (= preach), stammer, teach, 
tell, threat. 

1200-1300 

Accuse, answer, assign, avow, babble, bark, beg, belie (=tell 
lies about), blame, book, chatter, clack, command, commune, 
condemn, counsel, couple, crave, cry, curse, deny, dispraise, dis- 
pute, enjoin, excuse, feign, natter, foretell, forge, gainsay, grant, 
hoot, hue, inquire, judge, mispraise number, ordain, praise, pray, 
preach, prove, purge, put, reckon, rime, shoot (forth), signify, 
snib, sound, spell (=read letter by letter), summon, talk, thank, 
threaten, translate, traverse (as legal term = deny). 

1301-1350 

Allege, argue, attaint, ban, bequeathe, blaspheme, boast, 
certify, charge, claim, commend, count, crack, declare, defame, 
defend, dub, end, enroll, exile, expound, forewarn, grunt, indite, 
indict, jangle, liken, maintain, menace, multiply, outsay, plead, 
pronounce, publish, quash, quitclaim, rebuke, record, repeal, 
reprehend, reprove, respite, revile, slander, snub, specify, sue, 
thunder, touch. 

1351-1400 

Abate, abridge, account, add, adjudge, admonish, advise, 
affirm, amplify, appeal, appoint, approve, arraign, ascribe, assent, 
authorize, bargain, bewail, blabber, brag, brawl, challenge, chide, 
clamor, color, compare, complain, comprehend, confess, convey, 
convict, copy, correct, decide, decline (as grammatical term), 
decree, define, denounce, devise, disavow, disclose, disprove, 
devine, drivel, English, enter, entitle, establish, examine, exclude, 
exhort, express, find, herald, implead, impress, impugn, impute, 
induce, inform, interpret, justify, laud, miscall, miscounsel, mis- 
count, misinform, mismetre, missay, mumble, mutter, noise, note, 
notify, object, open, oppose, overpraise, pass, pick (on), pipe, 
point, portray, present, price, proclaim, prof er, prophesy, prose, 
proverb, quadruple, quarrel, rate (= scold), ratify, rave, refer, 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 191 

register, rehearse, renounce, repeat, reply, report, represent, 
repugn, require, return, reverse, revoke, ring, roar, salute, scan, 
scoff, scold, score (= record), testify, title, tongue, treat, triple, 
tryst. 

1401-1450 

Approbate, assess, bicker, blaze, catechize, christen, clatter, 
compile, conjure, continue, countermand, covenant, cut, date, 
decline (= refuse), detract, discuss, disgrade, disinherit, dis- 
pense, dissent, divide, engross, enhance, exalt, foreordain, ful- 
minate, have, huck, interrupt, license, misreport, mock, moralize, 
muster, omit, prate, preconize, press (upon), pretend, prohibit, 
promise, prompt, propose, protest, provide, reprobate, reveal, 
rule, subscribe, tail, thou, tittle, vaunt. 

1451-1500 

Address, adjourn (?), adjure, administer, advertise, agree, 
amend, announce, article, blow (upon), bluster, calendar, cite, 
clear, come (out with), compose, condition, constitute, crab, croak, 
debate, demand, depute, digest, disagree, disannul, discharge, 
discommend, disfranchise, dismiss, disprize, dissolve, divorce, 
drone, elect, enact, exempt, expose, forejudge, hem, imprint, 
interrogate, intitulate, intone, invoke, jabber, lay (down), make 
(out), pardon, pen, promulge, prorogue, question, rail, raise, 
reappeal, reassemble, recite, regret, reject, rejoin, reproach, 
scribble, sign, value. 

1501-1550 

Abdicate, abduce, abjure, abrogate, absolve, abstract, accent, 
acquit, admit, advance, allow, altercate, annunciate, apprize, 
assure, avouch, award, berate, blab, blether, break (forth), bruit, 
cackle, canvass, carp, cavil, compound, conclude, concord, conde- 
scend, confer, congratulate, conjugate, construe, consult, con- 
tend, contract, corroborate, crow, dedicate, denigrate, depose, 
deride, describe, digress, disaffirm, disparage, dispatch, ( ?) dis- 
semble, entreat, etymologize, exact, excommunicate, execute, ex- 



192 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

emplify, exhibit, exorcize, explain, extol, falsify, file, frame, 
fume, ( ?) gage, govern, harp, hobble, hollo, howl, illustrate, 
impart, impetrate, implore, importune, inculcate, indorse, insert, 
involve, instil, instruct, interdict, intimate, inveigh, invent, in- 
ventory, invocate, iterate, jest, lament, law, manifest, mention, 
metrify, mince, misadvise, misinstruct, misname, misprint, mis- 
reckon, missound, mistranslate, mitigate, mollify, mortgage, 
muzzle, nickname, nobilitate, nonsuit, obtest, order, outcry, over- 
tell, parse, pause, permit, persuade, phrase, postulate, prattle, 
prefix, premise, premonish, prescribe, pretermit, print, privilege, 
proceed, process, profess, promulgate, propound, pulpit, purport, 
put (down), qualify, rap (out), reacknowledge, reason, rebut, 
recant, reclaim, refute, relate, replicate, repone, retract, scrabble, 
shorten, shout, solicit, spare, suade, suggest, tattle, toss, trans- 
pose, trip, twit, ventilate. 

1551-1600 

Abbreviate, abet, acknowledge, acquaint, affiance, allegorize, 
allude, anagrammatize, anathematize, apologize, arbitrate, artic- 
ulate, assail, attest, attribute, aver, ballad, balladize, bawl, bellow, 
bescribble, bespeak, betroth, blatter, blurt, bolt (out), bombard, 
breathe, broach, calculate, calumniate, cant, catalogue, celebrate, 
censure, chalk up, chat, circumflex, commit, contradict, convene, 
convoke, cube, dare, declaim, deliberate, deliver, denominate, de- 
nunciate, deplore, dilate, ding, direct, disacknowledge, disallow, 
discard, discipline, disclaim, discourse, dispone, dispunct, dis- 
rank, dissuade, distinguish, doom, drawl, egg (on), elucidate, 
emblazon, epitomize, equivocate, exaggerate, except, exclaim, 
execrate, exonerate, expostulate, extenuate, fable, flout, fore- 
appoint, forge (= commit forgery), fret, (?) gabble, Germanize, 
gibe, glorify, graduate, gratulate, grumble, hedge, historify, his- 
torize, hound, huckster, hush, impeach, importunate, imply, in- 
clude, inscribe, insinuate, insist, interplead, invite, jargon, jeer, 
lash, latinize, lecture, legitimate, matriculate, message, methodize, 
misapply, mischarge, miscite, misdate, misinterpret, mispersuade, 
mispronounce, misquote, misrecite, misspeak, mistell, moderate, 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PBOGBESS 193 

nay, negotiate, nibble, nominate, nullify, obscure, obsecrate, offer, 
opine, orate, outbid, outbrag, outflatter, outscold, out-talk, out- 
voice, outwrangle, overcount, overname, overrule, parable, para- 
bolize, parley, parrot, particularize, peach, philosophize, picture, 
plaud, pledge, ply, poetize, pre-contract, prejudge, presage, pre- 
vail (upon), prolong, propagate, prorogate, proscribe, prosecute, 
pursue, quiddle, quip, rake (up), rate (= calculate), rattle, re- 
advise, rebaptize, rebuff (?), recall, recapitulate, refuse, rein- 
titule, reiterate, reprieve, reprint, request, resolve, resound, re- 
sume, retell, revert, riddle, rubricate, rubric, rumor, salve, school, 
screak, second, sentence, shriek, shrill, smooth, snap, snarl, son- 
net, sophisticate, spell (=name letters in order), spit, stick, 
stifle, subdivide, subjoin, subsume, subtilize, take, taunt, tax, 
temporize, term, testament, theme, throttle, throw, traduce, trans- 
act, transfer, transcribe, tutor, twattle. 

1601-1650 

Abuse, acclaim, accost, adduce, adumbrate, analyze, apostalize, 
applaud, apply, asperse, assert, augur, barbarize, beatify, be- 
scrawl, brand, cajole, certiorate, characterize, chirp, cognomi- 
nate, cognosce, commensurate, comment, comminate, commute, 
compliment, compute, concede, condole, confabulate, contest, 
contract (as grammatical term), controvert, converse, convince, 
correspond, countercharge, countercite, counter-order, crim- 
inate, criticize, decry, delegate, delete, delineate, demur, de- 
precate, detail, dictate, disadvise, disalarm, disbar, disguise, 
disown, disseminate, divulge, doctrinate, dogmatize, draw (up), 
drill, drop, dun, echo, embroider, engage, enumerate, enunciate, 
equate, erase, evade, evidence, evoke, excise, expatiate, explicate, 
expunge, extend, extract, fabulate, fasten, father, felicitate, fleer, 
forecall, foredoom, forespeak, forewrite, gag, genealogize, gibber, 
gloss, gospelize, gossip, grace, Grecianize (?), groan, haggle, 
hammer, harbinger, haw, Hebraize, hereticate, higgle, hint, hold, 
homage, honey, illegitimate, illuminate, impose, imprecate, in- 
stance, intercede, interpolate, interpose, inventorize, label, lan- 
guage, laugh, libel, list, litigate, lord, malign, map (out), medi- 



194 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ate, mendicate, minute, misaffirm, misbaptize, miscipher, mis- 
number, misrelate, misrepeat, misrepresent, misstate, mis-style, 
mourn, mouth, muddle, murder, mythologize, naturalize, news, 
nonsensify, nose, notice, oath, abjure, objurgate, obnunciate, ob- 
serve, opprobriate, outbabble, outbawl, outpreach, outrant, out- 
reason, outspeak, out-tongue, outwrite, overbid, overpersuade, 
overtalk, overvalue, own, page, palliate, palter, penegyrize, para- 
dox, parallel, parallelize, paralogize, paraphrase, pedantize, peti- 
tion, pettifog, phillippize, platonize, poll, portend, post, post-date, 
postseribe, pre-acquaint, preadmit, pre-admonish, preamble, pre- 
ambulate, pre-appoint, precondemn, preconsult, predamn, pre- 
declare, predicate, predict, predoom, pre-establish, preface, pre- 
interpret, prejudice, preside, pretext, prevaricate, prewarn, 
produce, prologize, rabbinize, rake (into), rally, ramble, rant, 
ratiocinate (?), readdress, re-appoint, reassign, recommend, re- 
commit, recompile, recriminate, redargue, refine, reflect (upon), 
reinterpret, reinterrogate, reintimate, reinvite, render, republish, 
repudiate, rescind, retort, review (in legal sense), revise, revive, 
satirize, scrawl, screw, scroll, scruple, sermonize, silence, single 
(out), smatter, snort, soothsay, spatter, specialize, specificate, 
squabble, state, stigmatize, subdelegate, subinduce, subject, sub- 
ordinate, subpoena, sum up, superadd, superscribe, superscrive, 
tale, tally, tautologize, testate, theorize, ticket, torment, torture, 
transcribble, triplicate, trumpet, turn, tutorize, vacate, validate, 
veil, vent, venture, verbalize. 

1651-1700 

Adjective, administrate, analogize, aphorize, apprise, aspirate, 
banter, belie (=show to be false), bespatter, blate, castigate, 
catcall, caution, circumstantiate, clash (with), clear (up), coax, 
collate, commiserate, commission, communicate^ compromise, con- 
note, connumerate, counter-argue, countersign, credit, cross- 
examine, damn, debit, defy, demonstrate, denote, depreciate, din, 
discept, discommune, disenact, disenfranchise, dishabilitate, dis- 
incorporate, distort, docket, draw, ejaculate, enlist, evangelize, 
evocate, exculpate, expurgate, fib, flourish, forebode, foremention, 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 195 

forgive, garble, grade, Grecize, harangue, hieroglyphize, huff, 
hurl, illucidate, incapacitate, individualize, inflect, inspeak, in- 
troduce, invoice, issue, joke, jubilate, lampoon, letter, miscom- 
pute, miscorrect, misexplain, misexpound, misplead, misrender, 
mission, mis-spell, moot, move, mysticize, narrate, obelize, obro- 
gate, outcant, outpromise, outshout, overspeak, overpreach, over- 
write, pelt, persist, philologize, posit, pre-advise, precompose, 
pre-instruct, premention, proselytize, proverbialize, pump, pun, 
quadruplicate, query, quibble, quote, rank, reassert, recognize, 
reconvey, rectify, remand, remind, remonstrate, renew, repri- 
mand, rhyme, ridicule, rodomontade, romance, score (cancel), 
scratch (erase), scriven, slur, smoothe (over), sneer, solecize, 
spar, spirit, spiritualize, sputter, squeal (to utter shrilly), stab, 
tag, text, theologize, thee, third, toast, tone, trace. 

1701-1750 

Accentuate, anglicize, apostrophize, blacklist, borrow, bully, 
compress, confab, confide, counterprove, couplet, dash, depict, 
deputize, disqualify, document, doggrel, elegize, encore, excurse, 
exhaust, extemporize, frank, gasconade, growl, hawk, heroize, 
hesitate, honor, hypothesize, incriminate, index, instrument, inte- 
grate, jaw, jot, lodge, lug (in), mackle, mandate, miscalculate, 
misexpress, misnomer, negative, non-concur, numerate, obnounce, 
outargue, outbluster, outbully, out-thunder, overdraw, palaver, 
parody, personify, personize, plagiarize, pop (the question), 
postmark, probe, puff, quaver (?), recede, reinstruct, remark, 
respond, roast, scout, scratch (out), scream, signalize, solve, 
speechify, splutter, stamp, table, tabulate, test, total, transform, 
type. 

1751-1800 

Abnegate, adjudicate, adsignify, adulate, advocate, anglify, 
annominate, annotate, appellate, argufy, asseverate, attack, bore, 
certificate, cheer, circumscribe, classify, codify, commentate, con- 
coct, cover, crib, cross-interrogate, cross-question, dissertate, dis- 
simulate, dramatize, draw out, edit, elide, emblematize, emend, 



196 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

emit, euphonize, fabricate, furlough, gallicize, generalize, gram- 
maticize, guarantee, hazard, hiss, hurrah, identify, implicate, in- 
culpate, indicate, insult, interject, intonate, italicize, journalize, 
lip, magnify, maledict, memorialize, misdirect, modernize, noun, 
obstruct, paragraph, parleyvoo, pencil, perjure, precognosce, pre- 
inform, prime, probate, prologuize, propine, rag, reargue, recount, 
reissue, reorder, review (criticize), rumble (?), sanction, scribe, 
sob, soliloquize, space, spout, suffix, taboo, theatricalize, trump up, 
tuscanize. 

1801-1850 

Agglutinate, annualize, antiquate, append, assibilate, assuade, 
autograph, blackguard, blarney, Bowdlerize, brief, bulletin, but- 
tonhold, capitalize, carpet, chaff, champion, check, cheep, chime 
in, chronologize, circularize, coach, cognomen, cognominize, cross, 
cuss, deed, designate, disbosom, discrepate, disempower, disentail, 
dispersonify, disrate, doggrelize, draft, drum, educate, educe, 
eliminate, elocutionize, encyclopedize, eulogize, expand, familiar- 
ize, fore-announce, form, fudge, gab, Gaelicize, Greekize, gurgle, 
halt, heed, heckle, historicize, hyphen, ignore, illegitimatize, im- 
provise, jargonize, kid, knell, legislate, letterize, literalize, localize, 
logicize, lyricize, marginalize, mathematecize, melodramatize, 
memorandum, metricize, miscolor, miscopy, misderive, misdescribe, 
misfame, mispunctuate, moan, monogrammatize, monologize, mor- 
tify, mystify, mythicize, nag, neologize, nomenclate, outbellow, 
outbray, outslang, out-tell, over-issue, over-refine, overstate, pad, 
parenthecize, patent, pluralize, poke (fun), popularize, postfix, 
pragmatize, preannounce, precalculate, precisionize, predecree, 
predesignate, previse, proctorize, propagandize, punctuate, quan- 
tify, quiesce, rationalize, reaffirm, reconvoke, reduplicate, reel 
(off), retelegraph, rhapsodize, rip (out), romanize, row, Saxonize, 
scratch (= scribble), screech, sentimentalize, simplify, singular- 
ize, slang, slate (reprove), solemnize, sonneteer, sough, spat, 
speech, stenograph, stereotype, stet, stickle, sub-contract, submit, 
superficialize, tarrif, tarrifize, telegraph, terminate, theosophize, 
tout, tragedize, tragecize, trifle, trivialize, trustee, twaddle, twist, 
twitter, typewrite, typographize, verbify. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PROGRESS 197 

1851 to the Present 

Accredit, actionize, agitate, air, alphabetize, anglicify, as- 
sonate, blare, block, boost (not in Oxford or Century), bracket, 
bring up, butt in (not in Oxford or Century), buttonhole, cable, 
card, classicalize, classicize, collaborate, concelebrate, decimalize, 
diphthongize, disattaint, disauthenticate, disbench, dislicense, 
emendate, emphasize, enigmatize, ergotize, euphemize, fake, fili- 
buster, flay (not in Oxford or Century), formalize, formularize, 
formulate, formulize, French, Frenchize, group, guffaw, gush, 
guy, hark, headline, Hebraicize, hyphenate, hyphenize, infix, 
initial, interpellate, interview, itemize, jerk, jolly, josh, kick, 
knock (in Century Dictionary Supplement), legendize, legiti- 
matize, lingualize, linotype (in Century Dictionary Supplement), 
lobby, manifold, misaddress, misword, monograph, monologuize, 
monophthongize, monosyllabize, monotone, mutate, Newmanize, 
obsolesce, obvert, optimize, ordinate, outline, over-subscribe, 
paginate, palatalize, penalize, permute, platitudinize, postscript, 
pout, precast, precise, predate, preludize, prod, program, proposi- 
tionize, proparoxytone, quiz, rap (not in Oxford or Century), 
readdress, re-amend, rebook, reconvict, redeliver, regulate, requi- 
sition, roll-call, romancize( ?), rub (it in), scathe, schedule, score 
(= criticize, not in Oxford or Century), shut (up), signature, 
similize, slate (== list as candidate, see Century Dictionary Sup- 
plement), snark, snigger, soap, sonantize, speculate, splash, 
spring, squeal (=to turn informer), squelch, star, sub-edit, sub- 
side, substantivize, subtitle, summarize, supersubtilize, tablet, 
tabularize, telephone, testimonialize, theatrize, thrash out, tiff, 
tip, transcendentalize, transliterate, treaty, tune in, ventriloquize. 

I need not attempt here to analyze in detail the abundant 
wealth of material which the foregoing tabulation offers for 
psychological study. The tabulation of other conceptual cate- 
gories for successive periods of the language would doubtless be 
of equally fruitful significance. The general tendency of all 
superperceptual ideation toward a more precise and discriminat- 



198 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ing analysis 23 is in the main brought into clear relief. If mate- 
rials were available for recording the chronology of the same 
category in other languages of high cultural development, a 
comparison would probably reveal many correspondences of 
striking and fundamental character. 

The list in its entirety presents very concrete testimony as 
to the immense value of the Oxford Dictionary as an instrument 
of research for the study of psycho-lexical evolution, and ac- 
centuates the need of similar dictionaries of other languages 
compiled upon the same comprehensive principles, and with the 
same critical accuracy and scholarly thoroughness as Murray's 
monumental work. Such a philological achievement is possible, 
of course, only through the combined labors of many individual 
investigators, and there is little reason to doubt but that when 
peace is once more restored to the world, activity in such colla- 
boration will tend to become more extensive and better organized. 

It has been my aim throughout this article to emphasize par- 
ticularly the importance of historical lexicology from the con- 
ceptual point of view, the value of its researches for compara- 
tive psychology, especially as regards the higher levels of the 
cognitive faculties, and the inexhaustible wealth of richly signi- 
ficant material directly accessible for such study. In tracing the 
course of psycho-lexical evolution, every fact bearing upon the 
expression of a certain idea by a certain people at a certain 
period is of value ; but it is equally important to remember that 
"no fact in any language is completely understood until there 
has been brought to bear upon it the evidence of every other 
analogous fact, related or unrelated/' 24 

An ideally complete tabulation of all available lexicological 
data would embody, for each language, a fourfold classification : 
(1) a chronological classification, showing for each successive 



23 For specific evidence of this tendency in French, see the abstract of 
a paper read by the author before the Philological Association of the 
Pacific Coast, in November, 1909, "The Expression of Certain Categories 
of Abstract Thought in Villehardouin, Commines, and Michelet," ibid., 
XL, xcviii. 

24 Whitney, op. cit., p. 315. 



LEXICOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND CONCEPTUAL PBOGEESS 199 

period, all new words and all new meanings of old words; (2) an 
etymological classification, grouping in chronological order all 
words according to their origin — popular, learned, borrowed, or 
formational; (3) a derivational classification, showing for each 
primitive word, the chronological order of all words derived 
from it; (4) an ideological classification, showing for each con- 
ceptual category the chronological succession of new distinc- 
tions. 25 The labor involved in such a tabulation would of course 
be vast, beyond computing ; but that its results would furnish a 
treasury of materials of incalculable value for the study of 
psycho-lexical evolution in all its manifold aspects, there can be 
no question. Every individual investigation which contributes to 
the filling out of such a tabulation is a direct contribution to our 
knowledge of intellectual progress, and cannot fail to throw new 
light on all researches of a similar order which have preceded it. 

Modern psychology is coming to recognize more clearly the 
profound significance of Comte's formula: "II ne faut pas de- 
finir l'humanite par l'homme, mais Thomme par l'humanite." 
It is becoming ever more manifest that the mental organization 
of each individual is dependent in great measure upon the influ- 
ence of the social environment into which he is born; and it is 
obviously through the medium of language that this influence is 
rendered most constant and most potent. 

And the converse is equally true. It is through a keener 
insight into the workings of the human mind and a deeper com- 



25 Of unquestionable value, also, for the psychological interpretation of 
lexical growth and tendency, are statistics upon the relative vitality (fre- 
quency of occurrence and generality of usage) of words in different periods. 
In a paper read before the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast, in 
Nevember, 1912, I showed that in the French vocabulary the relation of 
vitality to other lexical features such as age, etymological origin, con- 
tinuity of usage, derivational fertility, etc., is remarkably constant. For 
an abstract of this paper, see ' l Some Features of Lexicological Vitality 
in French, ' ' ibid., XLIII, lxx. For many suggestive observations on the 
general subject of lexicological vitality, see H. Darmesteter, La Vie des 
mots, Paris, 1899, and the admirable review of this work in Paris, Melanges 
linguistiques (Paris, 1909), p. 281. For words which have undergone 
change of meaning, it is obviously important to have citations in sufficient 
number and sufficiently near in time to show the successive shadings of this 
change. Interesting remarks in this connection are to be found in the 
preface to the Dictionnaire general of Darmesteter and Hatzfeld. 



200 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

prehension of those psychic predispositions which are of per- 
manent, universal and fundamental character, that must be 
found, if found at all, an ultimate solution to those problems, 
sociological and educational, which are most vital to the welfare 
and progress of mankind. To the attainment of this keener in- 
sight and this deeper comprehension, it is certain that no labor 
will contribute in higher measure than the patient, penetrating 
and comprehensive analysis of the records of human speech. 



CHATEAUBRIAND 
LES NATCHEZ, LIVRES I ET II 

Contribution a l 'etude des sources de Chateaubriand 



PAR 

GILBERT CHINARD 



CHATEAUBRIAND 
LES NATCHEZ 

LlVRES I ET II 

Contribution a l 'etude des sources de Chateaubriand 

par 
GILBERT CHINARD 



INTRODUCTION 

Plus que tout autre ouvrage de Chateaubriand, les Natchez 
sont susceptibles de nous fournir des renseignements exacts sur 
la formation du genie et sur les procedes litteraires de l'auteur 
d'Atala et de Bene. II n'est cependant pas d'oeuvre de Chateau- 
briand qui ait ete moins etudiee et sur laquelle la critique ait 
porte des jugements plus severes. Sainte Beuve, lui-meme, a 
recule devant la tache d'etudier les Natchez en detail et s'en est 
debarrasse d'un mot. 1 Plus recemment M. Jules Lemaitre les a 
analyses brievement et sans indulgence. 2 On trouvera ailleurs 
des indications plus precises sur l'intrigue, la composition des 
Natchez et leur valeur litteraire; 3 mais il ne sera possible d'etu- 
dier serieusement l'epopee indienne de Chateaubriand que le 
jour ou nous aurons entre les mains une edition critique qui 
n'existe pas encore. 



i Sainte-Beuve, Chateaubriand et son groupe litteraire. 2 vols., Paris. 

2 Lemaitre, J., Chateaubriand, Paris, 1912. 

3 Chinard, G., L'exotisme americain dans I'eeuvre de Chateaubriand, 
Paris, 1918. 



202 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Bien que remarries au moment de la publication, en 1826, les 
Natchez semblent bien avoir ete presque entierement composes 
pendant Pexil de Chateaubriand en Angleterre. lis represente- 
raient done, si Ton admet cette hypothese, la* plus grande partie 
du travail litteraire de Chateaubriand de 1792 a 1799. II nous 
a dit lui-meme comment il avait entasse dans le manuscrit des 
souvenirs, des notes prises au cours de ses lectures, des inven- 
tions et des projets. Nous aurions ainsi la chance presque unique 
d 'avoir entre les mains comme un epitome de la vie intellectuelle 
d'un grand ecrivain pendant ses annees de formation, les dix 
annees les moins connues et les plus attirantes de sa vie. En 
etudiant les deux premiers livres des Natchez, nous nous sommes 
places au point de vue tres special des sources. Notre objet a ete 
simplement de reunir quelques-uns des materiaux qui, venant 
s'ajouter a d'autres, permettront de donner un jour l'edition des 
Natchez que nous revons. Sans aucun doute il reste encore beau- 
coup a glaner dans ce champ etroitement delimite : nous n 'avons 
fait qu'entrevoir un certain nombre de problemes sans pouvoir 
leur donner de solution. II importe cependant d'indiquer brieve- 
ment quels ils sont. 

A 

La date de composition des Natchez 

Dans une etude tres moderee et tres prudente, M. Martino a 
essay e de retracer l'histoire du manuscrit des Natchez en se 
servant uniquement des documents etrangers a l'oeuvre que 
nous possedons. 4 De son enquete, il resulte que le manuscrit des 
Natchez comprenait en realite non seulement les Natchez propre- 
ment dits et les deux romans d'Atala et de Rene, mais encore des 
ebauches ecrites par Chateaubriand avant son depart pour 
1 'Amerique, des notes prises pendant son voyage, des resumes de 
lectures faites ensuite a Lonclres et le manuscrit du fameux 
Voyage. Le manuscrit des Natchez serait done la "source" 



4 Martino, P., "A propos du Voyage en Amerique de Chateaubriand/ 
Revue d'histoire litteraire de la France, XVI, 429. . 



CHATEAUBEIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIYBES I ET II 203 

principale a laquelle Chateaubriand aurait puise pour toutes ses 
oeuvres americaines. L'histoire de ce manuscrit que l'auteur 
aurait laisse a Londres, au moment de son retour en France, et 
n 'aurait retrouve que plus de quinze ans plus tard, apres la 
seconde restauration, a paru assez etrange et a ete mise en doute 
par plusieurs critiques, en particulier par M. Dick, qui n'est pas 
suspect de bienveillance a l'egard de Chateaubriand. De l'etude 
de M. Martino, des renseignements complementaires fournis par 
M. V. Giraud, 5 il semble bien cependant que nous devons admet- 
tre au moins que Chateaubriand a laisse une partie de ses papiers 
a Londres et a deplore leur perte jusqu'au jour ou, grace aux 
efforts de M. M. de Thuisy, il a pu en reprendre possession. 

II reste cependant a determiner dans quelle mesure Chateau- 
briand a remanie le texte primitif des Natchez avant la publi- 
cation. Ces changements, si nous Ten croyons, auraient ete fort 
legers et se borneraient aux corrections qu'un "homme d'un 
esprit calme et d'un sang rassis" pourrait apporter aux "essais 
d'un auteur inexperimente, abandonne aux caprices de son 
imagination." Jusqu'ici, j'avais accepte sans examen cette 
affirmation de Chateaubriand. Une etude plus attentive du texte 
pourrait cependant tout remettre en question. 

Si Chateaubriand a laisse a Londres le manuscrit des Natchez, 
comment peut-on expliquer le parallelisme etroit qui existe entre 
certain es pages des Natchez et des passages des Martyrs? La 
ressemblance entre la description de 1 'armee de Chepar aux livres 
I et II des Natchez et la fameuse bataille des Martyrs est 
cependant evidente. Faut-il admettre que Chateaubriand, a la 
veille de publier les Natchez, ait demarque le livre VI des 
Martyrs? Cette hypothese est peu vraisemblable et ne tient guere 
devant une analyse serree du texte. La version des Natchez 
contient bien des phrases que Chateaubriand n 'aurait pas ecrites 
en 1809 et a plus forte raison en 1826. Admettrons-nous done 
que Chateaubriand avait rapporte d'Angleterre sinon le manu- 
scrit lui-meme, au moins les notes qui lui avaient servi a composer 



5 Giraud, V., " Sur le manuscrit des Natchez," Revue d'histoire litteraire 
de la France, XVI, 789. 



204 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

son poeme? Les deux descriptions auraient ainsi une source 
unique : les notes prises par Chateaubriand pendant son exil, 
utilisees une premiere fois pour les Natchez et une seconde fois 
pour les Martyrs. 

II est moins facile d'expliquer que le livre II des Natchez 
contienne une mention tres precise des voyages de Humboldt, 
alors que Humboldt voyagea en Amerique de 1799 a 1804 et ne 
publia sa relation qu 'en 1811. (Voir Natchez, II, note 57.) Nous 
nous trouvons cette fois en presence d'une addition au texte 
primitif et non plus d'une simple correction. 

Nous nous garderons cependant de tirer de ce fait qui peut 
etre isole une conclusion precise. II faudrait de nombreux faits 
de ce genre pour nous permettre d'attaquer serieusement l'hy- 
pothese generalement admise sur la date de composition des 
Natchez. C'est l'oeuvre toute entiere qu'il faudrait examiner en 
se placant a ce point de vue special, et notre examen n'a encore 
porte que sur une partie trop peu considerable du poeme de 
Chateaubriand. II suffira d'indiquer ici une difficulte que 
d'autres chercheurs parviendront peut-etre a expliquer de facon 
satisfaisante. 

B 

Les sources des Natchez 

Dans son etude sur la Genese du Genie du christianisme, 
M. V. Giraud a indique tres en detail quelles avaient ete les lec- 
tures de Chateaubriand pendant ses annees de formation. 6 
L 'etude du texte des Natchez nous permet de confirmer sur cer- 
tains points les indications que nous possedons deja. Dans une 
epopee indienne on devait s'attendre a trouver de nombreux sou- 
venirs d'Homere, et nous nous souvenons que Chateaubriand 
avait emporte "un petit Homere" a l'armee des Princes; les 
souvenirs de Virgile ne sont pas moins nombreux, bien que 
Chateaubriand n'ait point indique avec la meme precision qu'il 
etait familier avec VEneide. Par contre, il m'a ete impossible 



Giraud, V., Nouvelles etudes sur Chateaubriand, Paris, 1912. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVRES I ET II 205 

de trouver dans les textes etudies des rapprochements precis avec 
la Henriade, dont on connait la vogue a la fin clu XVIII 6 siecle. 
II existe de tres grandes ressemblances dans le ton general de 
certains passages des Natchez et la Henriade; les procedes sont 
les memes, les personnifications et les allegories se retrouvent dans 
les deux oeuvres; mais il s'agit la de "machines" communes a 
toutes les epopees pseudo-classiques et Ton ne peut tirer rien de 
precis d'une analyse de ce genre. Par contre, les emprunts a 
la Jerusalem delivree sont nombreux. C 'est a Beccles, on le sait, 
avec la charmante Charlotte Ives, que Chauteaubriand avait lu le 
poete italien. 7 Les emprunts a Milton sont plus rares; je n'en ai 
releve qu'un dans les livres, i et n. Ossian et Bernardin de Saint- 
Pierre, dont 1'influence sur Chateaubriand est indeniable, ne lui 
ont fourni dans ces deux livres aucune notation que j'aie pu 
retrouver. 

En ce qui concerne les sources purement americaines des 
Natchez, on peut aisement s'apercevoir qu'elles sont infiniment 
plus nombreuses et plus variees qu'il ne nous l'a laisse entendre. 
Un passage de la preface semble indiquer que Charlevoix a ete 
sa source unique et que le reste est pure "fiction" et invention. 
En realite Chateaubriand s'est documente avec une conscience 
extraordinaire. II n'est pas un seul trait de moeurs, un seul 
detail de costume, qui soit vraiment invente. Peut-etre n'a-t-il 
pas, au cours de ses lectures, pris soin d 'indiquer sur le manu- 
scrit primitif ses references exactes, et a-t-il cru que la part de 
1 'imagination etait plus grande dans son oeuvre qu'elle n'etait en 
realite. II est cependant certain qu'en plus de Charlevoix il a 
utilise : 

1. Lafitau. Moeurs des sauvages ameriquains comparees aux moeurs 

des anciens temps. 2 vols. Paris, 1724. 

2. Casteby, Marc, Histoire naturelle de la Caroline, de la Floride et 

des lies Bahamas. 2 vols. London, 1737. 

3. Dumont de Montigny, Memoires historiques sur la Louisiane. 

2 vols. Paris, 1753. 

4. Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane. 3 vols. Paris, 1758. 



Memoires d' outre tomoe, II, 134. 



206 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

5. Carver, Travels through the interior parts of North America. 
London, 1778. 

6. Bartram, William, Travels through North and South Carolina, . . . 
Philadelphia, 1791. 

7. Imlay, Gilbert, A topographical description of the western terri- 

tory of North America. London, 1793. 

Pour Carver et Bartram j'ai cite le texte anglais de prefe- 
rence a la traduction francaise. M. Bedier a en effet accuse 
Chauteaubriand d 'avoir ajoute certains details a des descriptions 
de Bartram. 8 Or ces details, qui sont absents de la traduction 
francaise, se retrouvent dans 1 'original anglais. II est done cer- 
tain que l'auteur des Natchez n'a pas eu la traduction francaise 
a sa disposition. 

J'ai renvoye egalement pour plusieurs relations de voyages 
publiees au XVIII 6 siecle et que Chateaubriand a pu trouver, 
soit dans l'original soit dans les Lettres edifiantes, a la collection 
publiee par Reuben Gold Thwaites. 9 

On pourra se convaincre en parcourant ces notes incompletes 
que Chateaubriand aurait pu dire des Natchez ce qu'il a dit des 
Martyrs dans une note au troisieme livre : "J 'espere qu 'on ne 
me reprochera plus des descriptions ou il n'y a pas un mot sans 
une autorite." 



La multiplicite meme des sources des Natchez pose un pro- 
bleme plus important que la fameuse question des "plagiats" de 
Chateaubriand. Que" Chateaubriand ait pris son bien ou il le 
trouvait, et transforme en or pur le vil metal que lui fournis- 
saient d'obscurs auteurs, e'est ce dont personne n'a jamais doute, 
meme parmi les contemporains de l'auteur d'Atala. Les Natchez 
nous permettent cependant d'etudier la question sous un aspect 
nouveau. L 'analyse du texte du Voyage en Amerique m'avait 
deja permis de demontrer que fort souvent Chateaubriand a 
recours en quelques lignes a plusieurs auteurs ou a plusieurs 



s Bedier, J., Etudes critiques, (Paris, 1903), p. 210. 

9 The Jesuits relations, and allied documents. (73 vols. Cleveland, 1896- 
1901.) 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ. LIVBES I ET II 207 

passages d'un meme auteur. 10 Mais, dans le Voyage, il ne s'est 
servi que de trois ou quatre ouvrages au plus. Dans les Natchez. 
au contraire, il n'a pas employe moins de huit ouvrages sur 
l'Amerique, ouvrages dont deux, celui de Lafitau et celui de 
Charlevoix, se composent respectivement de deux et trois volumes 
inquarto. II a de plus entasse des souvenirs et des citations 
d'Homere. de Virgile, du Tasse, et sans doute d'autres auteurs 
qui m'ont echappes. Chateaubriand aurait-il done compose 
l'enorme poeme des Natchez en feuilletant fievreusement des 
volumes epars sur sa table? Tache enorme et fastidieuse a 
laquelle il semble difficile qu'il ait pu s 'astreindre ! Aurait-il 
done, comme un savant moderne, pris. au cours de ses lectures, 
des notes qu'il aurait ensuite systematiquement classees par 
sujet? C'est ce que l'analyse du Voyage porterait a admettre. 
L'on pourra voir que l'etude que nous avons faite des Natchez 
semble confirmer cette hypothese jusqu'a un certain point. On 
ne peut cependant expliquer de cette facon les emprunts faits a 
Homere, a Virgile, au Tasse et a Milton. Une explication aussi 
mecanique du style de Chateaubriand, meme de Chateaubriand 
jeune, ne saurait valoir. II parait plus probable qu'il travaillait 
d'apres une premiere redaction dans laquelle, comme il le dit 
lui-meme dans le Voyage, il aurait entasse "ses rectifications, 
ses observations, ses reflexions, ses additions et ses propres descrip- 
tions" dans un ordre que lui seul pouvait reconnaitre. 

Tout en faisant la part de la memoire que Chateaubriand 
avait prodigieuse, on sera amene a rendre justice a son extra- 
ordinaire genie d 'assimilation et d 'organisation. Avec la 
maturite. l'originalite de Chateaubriand s'accrut, sans que pour- 
tant son souci de documentation se relachat. Dans les Natchez 
nous pouvons suivre pas a pas la marche de son esprit et deter- 
miner, les uns apres les autres, ses procedes de style. Une etude 
plus complete et poussee plus loin dans l'oeuvre, si elle est jamais 
faite, depassera la portee d'une simple enquete philologique, et 
nous permettra d'assister a l'eclosion du genie chez l'un des 
plus grands ecrivains du dix-neuvieme siecle. 

10 Chinard, G., Notes sur le voyage de Chateaubriand en Amerique, Univ. 
Calif. Publ. Modern Philology, vol." 4, pp. 269-349. 1915. 



208 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

CHATEAUBRIAND 
Les Natchez, Livkes I et II 

PREFACE 

Lorsqu'en 1800 je quittai l'Angleterre pour rentrer en France 
sous un nom suppose, je n'osai me charger d'un trop gros bagage : 
je laissai la plupart de mes manuscrits a Londres. Parmi ces 
manuscrits se trouvait celui des Natchez, dont je n'apportais a 
Paris, que Bene, Atala, et quelques descriptions de 1'Amerique. 

Quatorze annees s'ecoulerent avant que les communications 
avec la Grande-Bretagne se rouvrissent. Je ne songeai guere a 
mes papiers dans le premier moment de la restauration ; et 
d'ailleurs comment les retrouver? lis etaient restes renfermes 
dans une malle, chez une Anglaise qui m'avait loue un petit ap- 
partement a Londres. J 'avais oublie le nom de cette f emme ; le 
nom de la rue et le numero de la maison ou j'avais demeure 
etaient egalement sortis de ma memoire. 

Sur quelques renseignements vagues et meme contradictoires 
que je fis passer a Londres, MM. de Thuisy eurent la bonte de 
commencer des recherches ; ils les poursuivirent avec un zele, une 
perseverance dont il y a tres peu d'exemples; je me plais ici a 
leur en temoigner publiquement ma reconnaissance. 

Ils decouvrirent d'abord avec une peine infinie la maison que 
j 'avais habitee dans la partie ouest de Londres. Mais mon 
hotesse etait morte depuis plusieurs annees, et Ton ne savait ce 
que ses enf ants etaient devenus. D 'indications en indications, de 
renseignements en renseignements, MM. de Thuisy, apres bien 
des courses infructueuses, retrouverent enfin, dans un village a 
plusieurs milles de Londres, la famille de mon hotesse. 

Avait-elle garde la malle d'un emigre, une malle remplie de 
vieux papiers a peu pres indechiffrables ? N 'avait-elle point jete 
au feu cet inutile ramas de manuscrits francais? 

D'un autre cote, si mon nom sorti de son obscurite m'avait 
attire dans les journaux de Londres l'attention des enf ants de 



CHATEAUBBIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LI V RES I ET II 209 

mon ancienne hotesse, n 'auraient-ils point voulu profiter de ces 
papiers, qui des lors acqueraient une certaine valeur ? 

Rien de tout cela n'etait arrive; les manuscrits avaient ete 
conserves; la malle n'avait pas meme ete ouverte. Une religieuse 
fidelite, dans une famille malheureuse, avait ete gardee a un 
enfant du malheur. J'avais confie avec simplicite le produit 
d'une partie de ma vie a la probite d'un depositaire etranger, et 
mon tresor m'etait rendu avec la meme simplicite. Je ne connais 
rien qui m'ait plus touche dans ma vie que la bonne foi et la 
loyaute de cette pauvre famille anglaise. 

Voici comment je parlais des Natchez dans la preface de la 
premiere edition d'Atala: 

J'etais encore tres jeune lorsque je concais l'idee de faire I' epopee de 
I'homme de la nature, ou de peindre les mceurs des sauvages, en les liant 
a quelque evenement connu. Apres la decouverte de l'Amerique, je ne 
vis pas de sujet plus interessant, surtout pour des Francais, que le mas- 
sacre de la colonie des Natchez, a la Louisiane, en 1727. Toutes les tribus 
indiennes conspirant, apres deux siecles d 'oppression, pour rendre la 
liberte au nouveau monde, me parurent offrir un sujet presque aussi 
heureux que la conquete du Mexique. Je jetai quelques fragments de cet 
ouvrage sur le papier; mais je m'apergus bientot que je manquais des 
vraies couleurs, et que, si je voulais faire une image semblable, il fallait, 
a l'exemple d'Homere, visiter les peuples que je voulais peindre. 

En 1789, je fis part a M. de Malesherbes du dessein que j'avais de 
passer en Amerique. Mais desirant en meme temps donner un but utile a 
mon voyage, je formai le dessein de decouvrir par terre le passage tant 
cherche, et sur lequel Cook meme avait laisse des doutes. Je partis; je 
vis les solitudes americaines, et je revins avec des plans pour un second 
voyage, qui devait durer neuf ans. Je me proposais de traverser tout le 
continent de l'Amerique septentrionale, de remonter ensuite le long des 
cotes, au nord de la Calif ornie, et de revenir par la baie d 'Hudson, en 
tournant sous le pole.* M. de Malesherbes se chargea de presenter mes 
plans au gouvernement, et ce fut alors qu'il entendit les premiers frag- 
ments du petit ouvrage que je donne aujourd'hui au public. La revolution 
mit fin a, tous mes projets. Couvert du sang de mon frere unique, de ma 
belle-soeur, de celui de l'illustre vieillard, leur pere, ayant vu ma mere, et 
une autre soeur pleine de talents, mourir des suites du traitement qu'elles 
avaient eprouve dans les cachots, j 'ai erre sur les terres etrangeres. . . . 

De tous mes manuscrits sur l'Amerique, je n 'ai sauve que quelques 
fragments, en particulier Atala, qui n'etait elle-meme qu'un episode des 



* M. Mackensie a depuis execute une partie de ce plan. (Note de Cha- 
teaubriand.) 



210 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Natchez. Atala a ete ecrite dans le desert et sous les huttes des sauvages. 
Je ne sais si le public goutera cette histoire, qui sort de toutes les routes 
connues, et qui presente une nature et des mceurs tout a fait etrangeres 
a 1 'Europe. 

Dans le Genie du christianisme, tome II des anciennes editions, 
au chapitre du Vague des passions, on lisait ces mots: "Nous 
serait-il permis de donner aux lecteurs cet episode extrait, comme 
Atala, de nos anciens Natchez? C'est la vie de ce jeune Rene a 
qui Chactas a raconte son histoire, etc." Enfin dans la preface 
de l'edition generale de mes (Euvres, j'ai deja donne quelques 
renseignements sur les Natchez. 

Un manuscrit dont j'ai pu tirer Atala, Bene et plusieurs de- 
scriptions placees dans le Genie du christianisme, n'est pas tout 
a fait sterile. II se compose, comme je l'ai dit ailleurs, de deux 
mille trois cent quatre-vingt-trois pages in-folio. Ce premier 
manuscrit est ecrit de suite, sans section; tous les sujets y sont 
conf ondus : voyages, histoire naturelle, partie dramatique, etc. ; 
mais, aupres de ce manuscrit d'un seul jet, il en existe un autre 
partage en livres, qui malheureusement n'est pas complet, et ou 
j'avais commence a etablir l'ordre. Dans ce second travail non 
aeheve, j 'avais non seulement procede a la division de la matiere, 
mais j'avais encore change le genre de la composition, en la 
faisant passer du roman a l'epopee. 

La revision, et meme la simple lecture de cet immense manu- 
scrit, a ete un travail penible : il a f allu mettre a part ce qui est 
voyage, a part ce qui est histoire naturelle, a part ce qui est 
drame ; il a fallu beaucoup rejeter et bruler encore davantage de 
ces compositions surabondantes. Un jeune homme qui entasse 
pele-mele ses idees, ses inventions, ses etudes, ses lectures, doit 
produire le chaos; mais aussi dans ce chaos il y a une certaine 
fecondite qui tient a la puissance de l'age et qui diminue en 
avancant dans la vie. 

II m'est arrive ce qui n'est peut-etre jamais arrive a un 
auteur: c'est de relire apres trente annees un manuscrit que 
j 'avais totalement oublie. Je 1 'ai juge comme j 'aurais pu juger 
l'ouvrage d'un etranger; le vieil ecrivain forme a son art, 



CHATEAUBBIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 211 

l'homme eclaire par la critique, l'homme d'un esprit calme et 
d'un sang rassis, a corrige les essais d'un auteur inexperimente, 
abandonne aux caprices de son imagination. 

J'avais pourtant un danger a craindre. En repassant le 
pinceau sur le tableau, je pouvais eteindre les couleurs ; une main 
plus sure, mais moins rapide, courait risque de faire disparaitre 
les traits moins corrects, mais aussi les touches plus vives de la 
jeunesse; il fallait conserver a la composition son independance, 
et pour ainsi dire sa fougue; il fallait laisser l'ecume au frein 
du jeune coursier. S'il y a dans les Natchez des choses que je 
ne hasarderais qu'en tremblant aujourd'hui, il y a aussi des 
choses que je n'ecrirais plus, notamment la lettre de Rene dans 
le second volume. 1 

Partout, dans cet immense tableau, des difficultes conside- 
rables se sont presentees au peintre; il n'etait pas tout a fait aise, 
par exemple, de meler a des combats, a des denombrements de 
troupes, a la maniere des anciens, de meler, dis-je, des descriptions 
de batailles, de revues, de manoeuvres, d'uniform'es et d'armees 
modernes. Dans ces sujets mixtes, on marche constamment entre 
deux ecueils, 1'affectation ou la trivialite. Quant a l'impression 
generale qui resulte de la lecture des Natchez, c'est, si je ne me 
trompe, celle qu'on eprouve a la lecture de Rene et d'Atala; il est 
naturel que le tout ait de l'affinite avec la partie. 

On peut lire dans Charlevoix (Histoire de la Nouvelle France, 
IV, 24) le fait historique qui sert de base a la composition des 
Natchez. 2 C'est de Taction particuliere racontee par l'historien 
que j'ai fait, en l'agrandissant, le sujet de mon ouvrage. Le 
lecteur verra ce que la fiction a ajoute a la verite. 



1 II est difficile de determiner dans quelle mesure Chateaubriand a 
effectue ces corrections. M. Victor Giraud a eu entre les mains les 
epreuves corrisees de la premiere edition des Natchez; mais ce texte meme 
est peut-etre deja bien different du manuscrit original. Nous pourrons voir 
cependant que Chateaubriand a laisse subsister dans le texte deflnitif des 
phrases gauches et maladroites qu'il n'aurait certainement pas ecrites en 
1826. 

2 Charlevoix est loin d 'avoir ete la source unique de Chateaubriand, 
qui a emprunte beaucoup aux historiens de la Louisiane, Dumont de 
Montigny et Le Page du Pratz, pour les faits historiques qui servent de 
base a la composition des Natchez. 



212 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

J'ai deja dit qu'il existait deux manuscrits des Natchez: l'un 
divise en livres qui ne va guere qu'a la moitie de l'ouvrage; 
1 'autre, qui contient le tout sans division, et avec tout le desordre 
de la matiere. De la une singularity litteraire dans 1 'ouvrage tel 
que je le donne au public : le premier volume s'eleve a la dignite 
de l'epopee, comme dans les Martyrs; le second descend a la nar- 
ration ordinaire, comme dans Atala et dans Bene. 

Pour arriver a 1 'unite du style, il eut f allu effacer du premier 
volume la couleur epique, ou 1 'etendre sur le second : or, dans 1 'un 
ou 1 'autre cas, je n'aurais plus reproduit avec fidelite le travail 
de ma jeunesse. 3 

Ainsi done, dans le premier volume des Natchez, on trouvera 
le merveilleux, et le merveilleux de toutes les especes : le mer- 
veilleux chretien, le merveilleux mythologique, le merveilleux 
indien; on rencontrera des muses, des anges, des demons, des 
genies, des combats, des personnages allegoriques ; la Renommee, 
le Temps, la Nuit, la Mort, l'Amitie. Ce volume offre des invo- 
cations, des sacrifices, des prodiges, des comparaisons multipliees, 
les unes courtes, les autres longues, a la facon d'Homere, et 
formant de petits tableaux. 

Dans le second volume, le merveilleux disparait, mais 1 'in- 
trigue se complique et les personnages se multiplient; quelques- 
uns d'entre eux sont pris jusque dans les rangs inferieurs de la 
societe. Enfin le roman remplace le poeme, sans neanmoins 
descendre au-dessous du style de Bene et d' 'Atala, et en remontant, 



s La phrase est ambigue. Chateaubriand semble vouloir dire qu'a peu 
de retouches pres il publie la premiere partie des Natchez telle qu'il l'a 
retrouvee dans le fameux manuscrit. II reste a determiner s'il a ecrit au 
moment de la publication la Suite des Natchez en se servant de notes prises 
pres de trente ans auparavant. Dans ce cas, il serait permis de considerer 
la derniere partie des Natchez comme un ouvrage de la vieillesse de 
Chateaubriand. Si au contraire l'ouvrage tout entier existait dans le ton 
narratif, on se demande par quelle etrange faute de gout l'auteur a pu 
preferer le style pseudo-epique de la premiere partie a, "la narration 
ordinaire" d Atala et de Rene. Nous pouvons en tout cas retenir 1 'indi- 
cation que Chateaubriand n 'a pas redige la premiere partie d'un seul jet 
et qu'il a passe une "couleur epique" sur le style pedestre d'une premiere 
redaction. 



CRATEAVBIIIAXI), LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 213 

quelquefois, par la nature du sujet, par celle des caracteres et 
par la description des lieux, au ton de l'epopee. 4 

Le premier volume contient la suite de l'histoire de Chaetas 
et son voyage a Paris. L 'intention de ce recit est de mettre en 
opposition les moeurs des peuples chasseurs, pecheurs et pasteurs 
avec les moeurs du peuple le plus police de la terre. C'est a la 
fois la critique et l'eloge du siecle de Louis XIV, et un plaidoyer 
entre la civilisation et 1 'etat de nature ; on verra que le juge 
decide la question. 

Pour faire passer sous les yeux de Chaetas les hommes illus- 
tres du grand siecle, j'ai quelquefois ete oblige de serrer les 
temps, de grouper ensemble des hommes qui n'ont pas vecu tout 
a fait ensemble, mais qui se sont succede dans la suite d'un long 
regne. Personne ne me reprochera sans doute ces legers anachro- 
nismes, que je devais, pourtant, faire remarquer ici. 

Je dis la meme chose des evenements que j'ai transported et 
renf ermes dans une periode obligee, et qui s 'etendent, historique- 
ment, en deca et au dela de cette periode. 

On ne me montrera, j'espere, pas plus de rigueur pour la 
critique des lois. La procedure criminelle cessa d'etre publique 
en France sous Francois I er , et les accuses n'avaient pas de 
defenseurs. Ainsi, quand Chaetas assiste a la plaidoirie d'un 
jugement criminel, il y a anachronisme pour les lois ; si j 'avais 
besoin sur ce point d'une justification, je la trouverais dans 
Racine meme. Dandin dit a Isabelle : 

Avez-vous jamais vu donner la question? 

ISABELLE. 

Non, et ne le verrai, que je crois, de ma vie. 

DANDIN. 

Yenez, je vous en veux faire passer l'envie. 

ISABELLE. 

He! monsieur, peut-on voir souffrir des malheureux? 

DANDIN. 

Bon! cela fait toujours passer une heure ou deux. 



4 Chateaubriand fait sans doute allusion a l'un des plus eharmants 
episodes des Natchez, celui on la mere du grenadier Jacques, "un des plus 
beaux grenadiers qui soient dans les troupes du roi, ' ' recueille Celuta. 



214 LITEBARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Racine suppose qu 'on voyait de son temps donner la question, 
et cela n 'etait pas : les juges, le greffier, le bourreau et ses garcons, 
assistaient seuls a la torture. 

J'espere enfin qu'aucun veritable savant de nos jours ne 
s'offensera du recit d'une seance de l'Aeademie et d'une inno- 
cente critique de la science sous Louis XIV, critique qui trouve 
d'ailleurs son contre-poids au Souper chez Ninon. lis ne s'en 
offenseront pas davantage que les gens de robe ne se blesseront 
de ma relation d'une audience au Palais. Nos avocats, nobles 
defenseurs des libertes publiques, ne parlent plus comme le 
Petit- Jean des Plaideurs; et dans notre siecle, ou la science a 
fait de si grands pas et cree tant de prodiges, la pedanterie est 
un ridicule completement ignore de nos illustres savants. 

On trouve aussi, dans le premier volume des Natchez, un livre 
d 'un del chretien different du del des Martyrs; en le lisant j 'ai 
cru eprouver un sentiment de l'infmi qui m'a determine a con- 
server ce livre. Les idees de Platon y sont confondues avec les 
idees chretiennes, et ce melange ne m'a presente rien de pro- 
fane ou de bizarre. 

Si l'on s'occupait encore de style, les jeunes ecrivains pour- 
raient apprendre, en comparant le premier volume des Natchez 
au second, par quels artifices on peut changer une composition 
litteraire et la faire passer d'un genre a un autre. Mais nous 
sommes dans le siecle des faits, et ces etudes de mots paraitraient 
sans doute oiseuses. Reste a, savoir si le style n'est pas cependant 
un peu necessaire pour faire vivre les faits. Voltaire n'a pas 
mal servi la renommee de Newton. L'histoire, qui punit et qui 
recompense, perdrait sa puissance si elle ne savait peindre ; sans 
Tite Live, qui se souviendrait du vieux Brutus ? Sans Tacite, qui 
penserait a Tibere? Cesar a plaide lui-meme la cause de son 
immortalite dans ses Commentaires, et il l'a gagnee. Achille 
n'existe que par Homere. Otez de ce monde l'art d'ecrire, il est 
probable que vous en oterez la gloire. Cette gloire est peut-etre 
une assez belle inutilite pour qu'il soit bon de la conserver, du 
moins encore quelque temps. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 215 

La description de l'Amerique sauvage appellerait naturelle- 
ment le tableau de l'Amerique policee; mais ce tableau me parai- 
trait mal place dans la preface d'un ouvrage d 'imagination. 
C'est dans le volume ou se trouveront les souvenirs de mes voy- 
ages en Amerique, qu'apres avoir peint les deserts je dirai ce 
qu'est devenu le nouveau monde et ce qu'il peut attendre de 
l'avenir. 5 L'histoire ainsi fera suite a l'histoire, et les divers 
sujets ne seront pas cont'ondus. 



s Chateaubriand n'a pas trace Je tableau qu'il annonce ici. On trouve a 
peine quelques traits sur l'Amerique moderne dans sa description de 
Pliiladelphie; mais meme dans le Voyage en Amerique, il ne s'est interesse 
qu'a la peinture de l'Amerique sauvage. 



216 LITEM ABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



LIVRE PREMIER 

A l'ombre des forets americaines, je veux chanter des airs de 
la solitude tels que n'en ont point encore entendu des oreilles 
mortelles; je veux raconter vos malheurs, 6 Natchez, 6 nation de 
la Louisiane, dont il ne reste plus que les souvenirs ! Les infor- 
tunes d 'un obscur habitant des bois auraient-elles moins de droits 
a nos pleurs que celles des autres hommes? et les mausolees des 
rois dans nos temples sont-ils plus touchants que le tombeau d 'un % 
Indien sous le chene de sa patrie ? 

Et toi, flambeau des meditations, astre des nuits, sois pour moi 

I 'astre du Pinde ! marche devant mes pas, a travers les regions 
inconnues du nouveau monde, pour me decouvrir a ta lumiere 
les secrets ravissants de ces deserts ! 

Rene, accompagne de ses guides, avait remonte le cours du 
Meschacebe ; sa barque flottait au pied des trois collines dont le 
rideau derobe aux regards le beau pays des enfants du Soleil. 

II s 'elance sur la rive, gravit la cote escarpee, et atteint le sommet 
le plus eleve des trois coteaux. 1 Le grand village des Natchez se 
montrait a quelque distance dans une plaine parsem.ee de bocages 
de sassafras; 2 ca et la erraient des Indiennes, aussi legeres que 
les biches avec lesquelles elles bondissaient ; leur bras gauche etait 
charge d'une corbeille suspendue a une longue ecorce de bouleau; 3 



i Ce canton, le plus beau, le plus fertile et le plus peuple de toute la 
Louisiane, est eloigne de quarante lieues des Yasous et sur la meme main. 
Le debarquement est vis-a-vis une butte assez haute et fort escarpee, au 
pied de laquelle coule un petit ruisseau, qui ne peut recevoir que des 
chaloupes et des pirogues. De cette premiere butte on monte a une 
seconde, ou plutot sur une colline dont la pente est assez douce et au 
sommet de laquelle on a bati une espece de redoute fermee par une simple 
palissade. On a donne a ce retranchement le nom de fort. Plusieurs 
monticules s'elevent au-dessus de cette colline, et quand on les a passes, 
on aperceoit de toutes parts de grandes prairies separees par de petits 
bouquets de bois qui font un tres bel effet. Les arbres les plus communs 
sont le noyer et le chene (Charlevoix, Journal Mstorique, p. 24). 

2 Sassafras, laurus sassafras. The sassafras is a large and tall tree. Its 
bark is thin and cracked here and there; its wood is somewhat^ of the 
color of cinnamon and has an agreeable smell (Imlay, p. 271; voir aussi 
Charlevoix, II, 9; Le Page du Pratz, II, 36). 

3 Voir dans Le Page du Pratz (II, 183), la description de ces "mannes 
fort petites pour amasser les f raises." 



CRATE AVBE1 AND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 217 

elles cueillaient les f raises, dont l'incarnat teignait leurs doigts 
et les gazons d'alentour. Rene descend de la colline et s'avance 
vers le village. Les fexnmes s'arretaient a quelque distance pour 
voir passer les etrangers, et puis s 'enf uyaient vers les bois : ainsi 
des colombes regardent le chasseur du haut d'une roche elevee et 
s'enfuient a son approche. 4 

Les voyageurs arrivent aux premieres cabanes du grand 
village; ils se presentent a la porte d'une de ces cabanes. La 
une famille assemblee etait assise sur des nattes de jonc ; les 
hommes fumaient le calumet, les femmes filaient des nerfs de 
chevreuil. 5 Des melons d'eau, 6 des plakmines seches 7 et des 
pommes de mai 8 etaient posees sur des feuilles de vigne vierge 



4 Apres s 'etre servi de Charlevoix pour la partie purement geographique 
de sa description, Chateaubriand emprunte un episode a Bartram : ' ' We 
began to ascend the hills of the ridge which we were under the necessity of 
crossing; and having gained its summit, enjoyed a most enchanting view; 
a vast expanse of green meadows and strawberry fields . . . herds of deer 
prancing in the meads or bounding over the hills; companies of young, inno- 
cent Cherokee virgins, some busy gathering the rich fragrant fruit, others 
having already filled their baskets lay reclined under the shade of florif erous 
and fragrant nature bowers . . . whilst other parties more gay and liber- 
tine, were yet collecting strawberries, or wantonly chasing their compan- 
ions, tantalising them, staining their lips and cheeks with the rich fruit ' ' 
(Bartram, p. 355). 

s Elles suppleent au def aut de fil en differentes manieres. Pour coudre 
les robes de fourrures, elles employent les boyaux des animaux des- 
seches; ou des filamens tires de leurs nerfs, ou bien des longes faites de 
peaux passees et coupees bien menu (Lafitau, II, 160). 

s Le Page du Pratz (II, 12) donne une longue description des melons 
d'eau "dont l'interieur est rempli par une substance brillante et 
legere comme une neige qui serait couleur de rose." Chateaubriand se 
souvient probablement ici d'un passage dans lequel Bartram decrit son 
arrivee dans un village de Seniinoles. L'auteur anglais nous montre com- 
ment les lits de repos sont "all covered with carpets or mats, curiously 
woven of split canes dyed of various colours." II ajoute ensuite: "Here 
being seated or reclining ourselves, after smoking tobacco, baskets of the 
choicest fruits were brought before us" (Bartram, p. 302). Chateau- 
briand n'a fait que developper "choicest fruits" dans son enumeration. 

7 Dans les relations des missionnaires on trouve d 'habitude pialimines 
(Jesuits relations, LIX, 32; LXIV, n. 21). Gravier parle de "pesches 
seches, de Piachimines et de Citrouilles" qui lui sont offertes quand il 
arrive au village de Kappa A Kansea (Jesuits relations, LXV, 116). 
Charlevoix (II, app. p. 37) donne une description avec figure du Piakini- 
mier, ou Plakeminier de Floride, appele en Chine Figue Caque. Le Page 
du Pratz (II, 18) decrit egalement le Piacminier ou Plaeminier, " dont on 
fait une sorte de pain avec les fruits seches et comprimes." 

8 Traduction de l'anglais "may apple." Xi Charlevoix ni Lafitau 
n 'en parlent, mais Casteby 1'a etudie (I, 24). 



218 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

au milieu du cercle: un noeud de bambou servait pour boire 
l'eau d'erable. 9 

Les voyageurs s'arreterent sur le seuil et dirent: "Nous 
sommes venus." 10 Et le chef de la famille repondit : " Vous etes 
venus, c'est bien." Apres quoi chaque voyageur s'assit sur une 
natte et partagea le festin sans parler. Quand cela fut fait, un 
des interpretes eleva la voix et dit: "Ou est le Soleil?"* Le 
chef repondit: "Absent." Et le silence recommenga. 11 

Une jeune fille parut a l'entree de la cabane. Sa taille haute, 
fine et deliee, tenait a la fois de l'elegance du palmier et de la 



9 On a vivement reproche a Chateaubriand d 'avoir fait eroitre des 
bambous sur les rives du Mississipi; voir en particulier Armstrong, E. K., 
"Chateaubriand's America," Modem Language Association Publications, 
XXII (1907), p. 370. Bambou designe ici le gros roseau que les voy- 
ageurs appelaient " Cannes" et dont on se servait en effet pour puiser de 
l'eau. "Nous pompions sans cesse de l'eau du Mississipi avec des Cannes 
pour nous desalterer; quoique fort boueuse elle ne fait aucun mal 
{Jesuits relations, LXVII, 290). Le Page du Pratz (II, 58) indique que 
ces Cannes sont hautes de dix-huit a vingt pieds et grosses comme le 
poignet. " 

io Voici la f agon dont Bartram decrit 1 'arrivee d 'un etranger dans une 
tribu indienne: "A man goes forth on his business or avocation; he calls 
in at another town; if he wants victuals, rest or social conversation, he con- 
fidently approaches the door of the first house he chooses, saying "I am 
come ; ' ' the good man or woman replies, ' ' You are ; it is well. ' ' Immedi- 
ately victuals and drinks are ready; he eats and drinks a little, then smokes 
tobacco, and converses either of private matters, public talks or the news 
of the town. He rises and says: "I go;" the other answers, "You do." 
He then proceeds again, and steps in at the next habitation he likes, or 
repairs to the public square, where are people always conversing by day, or 
dancing all night" (Bartram, p. 489). "Ou est le Soleil?" represente evi- 
demment les "news of the town" de Bartram. Mais Chateaubriand ne 
s 'est servi ici que de la premiere partie du passage de Bartram reservant le 
reste pour la fin du repas. Dans l'intervalle il insere l'entree de Celuta. 
Les renseignements donnes par Bartram sont confirmes par Lafltau, qui 
rapproche ces rites de ceux des premiers temps. " Le E. Pere Don Augustin 
Calmet. dans ses notes sur la Genese, a fort bien observe, que, dans les 
temps heroi'ques, les hotes ne disoient ordinairement, ni qui ils etoient, ni 
d'ou ils venoient, qu 'apres le repas; souvent meme on attendait trois, quatre, 
ou meme dix jours, sans s'en informer. C'est aussi le premier compliment 
que se font tous les Ameriquains, chez qui 1 'hospitalite n'est pas moins 
sacree que dans l'antiquite . . . quiconque arrive chez eux est bien re§u. 
A peine celui qui arrive, ou qui rend visite, est-il entre qu'on se met a 
manger devant luy, sans rien dire; et lui-meme mange sans fagon, avant 
d'ouvrir la bouche sur le sujet qui l'amene" (Lafltau, II, 88). 

* Le Soleil, Le Grand Chef, ou empereur des Natchez. (Note de Cha- 
teaubriand.) 

ii Le Grand Chef des Natchez porte le nom de Soleil (Charlevoix, III, 
420). Lafitau avait dit de meme: "A la Louisiane, les chefs s'honorent 
du nom de Soleil ou de fils du Soleil" (II, 131). 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIYRES I ET II 219 

faiblesse du roseau. 12 Quelque chose de souffrant et de reveur se 
melait a ses graces presque divines. Les Indiens, pour peindre 
la tristesse et la beaute de Celuta, disaient qu'elle avait le regard 
de la Nuit et le sourire de l'Aurore. Ce n'etait point encore une 
femme malheureuse, mais une femme destinee a le devenir. On 
aurait ete tente de la presser dans ses bras, si Ton n'eiit craint 
de sentir palpiter un coeur devoue d'avance aux chagrins de 
la vie. 

Celuta entre en rougissant dans la cabane, passe devant les 
etrangers, se penche a l'oreille de la matrone du lieu, lui dit 
quelques mots a voix basse et se retire. Sa robe blanche d'ecorce 
de murier ondoyait legerement derriere elle, et ses deux talons de 
rose en relevaient le bord a chaque pas. 13 L 'air demeura enbaume 
sur les traces de l'lndienne du parfum des fleurs du magnolia 
qui couronnaient sa tete : telle parut Hero aux fetes d 'Abydos ; 
telle Venus se fit connaitre, dans les bois de Carthage, a sa de- 
marche et a l'odeur d'ambroisie qu'exhalait sa chevelure. 14 



12 Les talons roses de Celuta et le parfum qui s 'exhale de sa chevelure 
ont paru fort invraisemblables a Miss Armstrong, Mod. Lang. Assoc. Pubh, 
XXII (1907), 366. Le P. Gravier a ete peu frappe par la beaute des femmes 
des Natchez et nous dit que ' ' la plupart ont les dents noires, ' ' et que 
c 'est considere comme un attrait de plus parmi elles (Jesuits relations, LXV, 
144). , Pour M. Le Braz, nous aurions un portrait de Charlotte Ives, la 
jeune Anglaise que Chateaubriand aima dans son exil a Beccles. Je ne puis 
admettre cependant que ' ' le nom de Celuta soit evidemment caique sur celui 
de Charlotte" (Au pays d'exil de Chateaubriand, p. 147). II peut y avoir 
quelque souvenir de Charlotte, mais tout au fond on peut trouver une 
reminiscence homerique. C'est a peu pres dans les memes termes qu'UTysse 
au sixieme livre de VOdyssee s'adresse a Nausicaa: "Je crois voir encore 
cette belle tige de palmier que je vis a, Delos pres de l'autel d'Apollon, et qui 
s'etait eleve tout d'un coup du fond de la mer," dit-il. Chateaubriand 
s'est par surcroit servi de la description que fait Bartram des femmes 
Muscogulges : ' ' The Muscogulge women, though remarkably short of stature, 
are well formed; their visage round, features regular and beautiful; the 
brow high and arched; the eye large, black and languishing, expressive of 
modesty, diffidence and bashfulness" (Bartram, p. 482). 

is Si les femmes savent travailler, elles se font des mantes ou de plumes 
ou de l'ecorce du murier tissu . . . Les mantes de nls d'ecorce de murier 
sont tres blanches et tres propres. (Le Page du Pratz, II, 191-193). Les 
femmes ont un habit de toile de meurier qu 'elles filent comme de la chanvre 
et du lin (Gravier, Jesuits relations, IXV, 130). 

14 Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit 
Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem 
Spiravere; pedes vestis defLuxit ad imos, 
Et vera incessu patuit dea . . . Eneide, i, 403-406. 



220 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Cependant les guides achevent leur repas, se levent et disent : 
* ' Nous nous en allons. " Et le chef indien repond : ' ' Allez ou le 
veulent les genies." Et ils sortent avec Rene, sans qu'on leur 
demande quels soins le ciel leur a commis. 15 Ils passent au milieu 
du grand village, dont les cabanes carrees supportaient un toit 
arrondi en dome. Ces toits de chaume de mais entrelace de 
feuilles s'appuyaient sur des murs recouverts en dedans et en 
dehors de nattes fort minces. 16 A l'extremite du village, les voy- 
ageurs arriverent sur une place irreguliere, que formaient la 
cabane du grand chef des Natchez et celle de sa plus proche 
parente, la F emme-Chef * 17 

Le concours d'Indiens de tous les ages animait ces lieux. La 
nuit etait survenue, mais des flambeaux de cedre allumes de toutes 
parts jetaient une vive clarte sur la mobilite du tableau. 18 Des 
vieillards fumaient leurs calumets en s 'entretenant des choses 
du passe; des meres allaitaient leurs enfants, ou les suspen- 
daient dans leurs berceaux aux branches des tamarins ; plus loin, 19 
de jeunes garcons, les bras attaches ensemble s 'essay aient a qui 



is Pour ces f ormules d 'adieu, voir note 10. 

16 Leurs cabanes sont en forme de pavilion carre, fort basses et sans 
fenetres; le faite est arrondi a peu pres comme un four. La plupart sont 
couvertes de feuilles et de pailles de maiz; quelques-unes sont construites 
d'une espece de torchi, qui me parut assez bon et qui est revetu en dehors 
et en dedans de nattes fort minces. Celle du Grand Chef est proprement 
crepie en dedans; elle est aussi plus grande et plus haute que les autres; 
placee sur un terrein un peu eleve, et isolee de toutes parts. Bile donne sur 
une grande place qui n'est pas tres reguliere (Charlevoix, III, 417). Voir 
egalement chez Lafitau (I, 167), une gravure qui pourrait servir d 'illustra- 
tion a ce passage. Lafitau indique cependant ailleurs que les cabanes des 
Natchez etaient rondes (II, 8). Le P. Gravier (Jesuits relations, LXV, 
132), leur attribue la meme forme. II est done probable que e'est de 
Charlevoix que Chateaubriand s'est servi ici. 

* Le fils de cette femme heritait de la royaute. Note de Chateaubriand. 

17 Le Grand Chef des Natchez porte le nom de Soleil, et e'est toujours, 
comme chez les Hurons, le fils de sa plus proche parente qui lui succede. 
On donne a cette femme la qualite de Femme-Chef, et quoique pour 1 'ordi- 
naire elle ne se mele pas du gouvernement, on lui rend de grands honneurs 
(Charlevoix, III, 420). 

is Voir Lafitau, II, 131, une gravure representant les occupations des 
Indiens dans leur village. 

is On a vu de petits garcons et de jeunes filles se lier Pun a 1 'autre par 
un bras, et mettre entre les deux un charbon allume, pour voir qui le 
secouerait le premier (Charlevoix, III, 307). 



CEATEAUBEIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 221 

supporterait plus longtemps 20 l'ardeur d'un charbon enflamme; 
les guerriers jouaient a la balle avec des raquettes garnies de 
peaux de serpents, 21 d 'autres guerriers avaient de vives conten- 
tions aux jeux des pailles et des osselets ; 22 un plus grand nombre 
executait la danse de guerre ou celle du buffle, tandis que des 
musiciens frappaient avec une seule baguette une sorte de tam- 
bour, soufflaient dans une conque sauvage, ou tiraient des sons 
d'un os de chevreuil perce a quatre trous comme le fifre aime 
du soldat. 23 

C'etait l'heure ou les fleurs de l'hibiscus commencent a 
s 'entr 'ouvrir dans les savanes, 24 et ou les tortues du fleuve 
viennent deposer leurs ceufs dans les sables. Les etrangers 
avaient deja passe sur la place des jeux tout le temps qu'un 
enfant indien met a parcourir une cabane quand, pour essayer 



20 La forme plus longtemps au lieu de le plus longtemps est a noter ici. 
Ne serait-ce pas une influence de 1 'anglais? 

2i Lafitau, qui decrit plusieurs varietes de jeux de balle, ne parle point 
de raquettes. Bartram decrit une raquette au manche long de trois pieds 
et garnie de lanieres de cuir non tanne (Bartram, p. 507). 

22 Eesume en quelques mots d 'une longue dissertation de Lafitau qui 
decrit ces jeux en detail. Je ne citerai ici que les passages dont s'est servi 
Chateaubriand. "Le jeu de hasard le plus celebre des Sauvages est un jeu 
de noyaux, ou d 'osselets faits de la rotule des jambes de derriere de l'elan 
(II, 339). Cependant les uns et les autres frappent sur eux-memes, se 
donnent des coups terribles et entrent dans une action si vehemente, que 
quoiqu'ils soient a demi-nuds, ils sont tout d'abord en sueur, comme s'ils 
avaient joue une forte partie de paulme (II, 342). Un autre jeu de hazard 
des Sauvages, et qui est en meme temps un jeu d'adresse, c'est le jeu des 
pailles, ou pour mieux dire des joncs" (II, 350). Voir aussi Chateaubriand 
lui-meme, Voyage en Amerique, pp. 183-88. 

23 Carver est 1 'unique auteur qui parle du tambour f rappe d 'une seule 
baguette : ' ' The only music they make use of is a drum, which is composed 
of a piece of hollow tree curiously wrought, and over one end of which is 
strained a skin, this they beat with a single stick" (Carver, p. 276). Par 
contre il n'indique pas les autres instruments. Chateaubriand a done du 
combiner des indications prises a differentes sources. "Les Caraibes se 
servent encore de conques marines pour donner le signal. ... ils se servent 
aussi de cornes a bouquins. Quelques-uns ont des especes de violons et des 
flutes. Entre ces flutes il y en a qui n'ont qu'un trou, mais etant d'une 
grosseur inegale, on dit que plusieurs sauvages jouant ensemble, forment 
divers tons d'une musique assez gracieuse" (Lafitau, I, 218). Bartram 
indique comme instruments indiens ' ' the tambour, rattle-gourd, and a kind 
of flute, made of a joint of reed or the tibia of a deer's leg" (Bartram, 
p. 502). 

24 L'hibiscus a ete decrit par Bartram, p. 19, 102, 103; il n'indique 
nulle part cette particularite. Voir aussi Voyage en Amerique, p. 84. 



222 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

sa marche, sa mere hii presente la mamelle et se retire en souriant 
devant lui. On vit alors paraitre un vieillard. Le ciel avait 
voulu 1 'eprouver : ses yeux ne voyaient plus la lumiere du jour. 
II cheminait tout courbe, s'appuyant d'un cote sur le bras d'une 
jeune femme, de l'autre sur un baton de chene. 25 

Le patriarche du desert se promenait au milieu de la foule 
charmee; les sachems meme paraissaient saisis de respect, et 
faisaient, en le suivant, un cortege de siecles au venerable homme 
qui jet ait tant d 'eclat et attirait tant d 'amour sur le vieil age. 

Rene et ses guides l'ayant salue a la maniere de 1 'Europe, le 
sauvage averti s'inclina a son tour devant eux; et prenant la 
parole dans leur langue maternelle, il leur dit: "Etrangers, 
j'ignorais votre presence parmi nous. Je suis fache que mes 
yeux ne puissent vous voir ; j 'aimais autrefois a contempler mes 
hotes et a lire sur leurs fronts s 'ils etaient aimes du ciel. " II se 
tourna ensuite vers la foule qu 'il entendait autour de lui : 
"Natchez, comment avez-vous laisse ces Prancais si longtemps 
seuls ? Etes-vous assures que vous ne serez jamais voyageurs loin 
de votre terre natale? Sachez que, toutes les fois qu'il arrive 
parmi vous un etranger, vous devez, un pied nu dans le neuve et 



25 La plupart des voyageurs rapportent que les Indiens faisaient peu de 
cas de leurs vieux parents et meme les tuaient pour se debarrasser de 
bouches inutiles. Le Page du Pratz (II, 313), remarque cependant que les 
Natchez ont pour les vieillards la plus grande veneration: "Ils sont 
regardes eomme des juges, leurs conseils sont des arrets." lei encore il 
peut y avoir une reminiscence homerique. C 'est ainsi qu 'au huitieme livre 
de l'Odyssee un heraut "amene le chantre divin Demodocus que les Muses 
avaient comble de leurs faveurs, mais a ces faveurs elles avaient mele beau- 
coup d'amertume, car elles 1 'avaient prive de la vue en lui donnant l'art de 
chanter. ' ' Chateaubriand a rappele lui-meme le souvenir de ces passages, 
a plusieurs reprises, dans les Martyrs, et en particulier livre v, note 24. II 
se peut egalement qu'il y ait quelque lointain echo de Sophocle, mais je n'ai 
pu trouver aucun rapprochement precis avec VOedipe a Colonne. C'est 
d 'ailleurs Bartram qui est ici la source principale. ' ' When I was at Muc- 
classe town, early one morning, at the invitation of the chief trader, we 
repaired to the public square, taking with us some presents to the Indian 
chiefs. On our arrival we took our seats in a circle of venerable men, round 
a fire in the center of the area; other citizens were continually coming in, 
and amongst them I was struck with awe and veneration at the appearance 
of a very aged man ; his hair, what little he had, was as white as snow ; he 
was conducted by three young men, one having hold of each arm, and the 
third behind to steady him. On his approach the whole circle saluted him, 
"welcome," and made way for him; he looked as smiling and cheerful as 
youth, yet stone-blind by extreme old age; he was one of the most ancient 
chiefs of the town, and they all seemed to reverence him" (Bartram, p. 497). 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, L1YEES I ET II 223 

une main tendue sur les eaux, faire un sacrifice au Meschacebe, 26 
car l'etranger est aime du Grand Esprit." 21 

Pres du lieu ou parlait ainsi le vieillard, se voyait un catalpa 
au tronc noueux, aux rameaux etendus et charges de fleurs; le 
vieillard ordonne a sa fille de l'y conduire. II s'assied au pied 
de l'arbre avec Kene et les guides. Des enfants montes sur les 
branches du catalpa eclairaient avec des flambeaux la scene au- 
dessous d'eux. Frappes de la lueur rougeatre de ces torches, le 
vieil arbre et le vieil homme se pretaient mutuellement une 
beaute religieuse; Tun et 1 'autre portaient les marques des 
rigueurs du ciel, et pourtant ils fleurissaient encore, apres avoir 
ete frappes par la foudre. 28 

Le frere d'Amelie ne se lassait point d 'admirer le sachem. 29 
Chactas (c 'etait son nom) 30 ressemblait aux heros represented 
par ces bustes antiques qui expriment le repos dans le genie, et 

26 Les Indiens font en eff et des sacrifices aux fleuves. On voit chez 
Carver le jeune prince, Winnebago, pres du Saut Saint Antoine, jeter dans 
le fleuve ses bracelets et ses ornements (Carver, p. 67). Par contre, je n'ai 
pu trouver nulle part le rituel indique par Chateaubriand. Y a-t-il ici une 
reminiscence d'un passage de 1 'Apocalypse qu'il cite dans les Martyrs, 
xxiv, note 18: "Et vidi a Hum angelum fortem descendentem de caelo . . . 
et posuit pedem suurn dextrum super mare, sinistrum autem super terram ' ' 
(Apocalypse, X, verses 1 and 2). 

27 Facit judicium pupillo et viduae, amat peregrin um, et dat ei victum 
atque vestitum (Deut. 10. 18). La meme expression se retrouve naturelle- 
ment chez de nombreux auteurs qui decrivent les rites de l'hospitalite chez 
les peuples primitifs. Chez Homere (Odyssee, vi), Xausicaa gronde ses 
servantes d 'avoir pris la fuite a la vue d'Ulysse et ajoute: "II faut en 
avoir soin, car tous les etrangers et tous les pauvres viennent de Zeus, ' ' et, 
au livre suivant, la meme pensee est exprimee presque dans les merries 
termes: "Enfln le heros Echeneus. qui etait le plus age des Pheaciens, qui 
savait le mieux parler et de qui la prudence etait augmentee par les exemples 
des anciens temps dont il etait instruit, rompit le premier le silence et dit : 
' ' Alcinoiis, il n 'est ni seant ni honnete que vous laissiez cet etranger assis 
a terre sur la cendre de votre foyer. ' ' 

28 On trouve dans les Martyrs (II, xlii) une scene dont le passage que 
nous avons ici semble etre l'ebauche: "Le repas fini on alia s'asseoir a la 
porte du verger sur un banc de pierre ..." Coutume antique, dit Chateau- 
briand, qui se retrouve dans la Bible et dans Homere. Mais dans les Mar- 
tyrs le catalpa est remplace par le noyer plante par l'ai*eul de Lasthenes et 
les flambeaux par "la lune decroissante. " Xous trouverons plusieurs de 
ces rapprochements entre les Martyrs et les Natcliez. 

29 Je ne crois pas que ni Lafitau ni Charlevoix aient employe le mot 
"sachem." Ils donnent d 'habitude le titre de cacique aux chefs indiens. 
Carver emploie frequemment le mot "sachem" (pp. 32ff.). 

30 Comme en plusiurs autres endroits, Chateaubriand a pris un nom de 
tribu pour en faire un nom d 'homme. "Les Tchactas," dit Charlevoix, 
"constituent un peuple nombreux qui nous font une barriere necessaire 



224 LITEEABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

qui semblent naturellement aveugles. La paix des passions 
eteintes se melait sur le front de Chactas, a cette serenite re- 
marquable chez les hommes qui ont perdu la vue; soit qu'en 
etant prive de la lumiere terrestre nous commercions plus inti- 
mement avec celle des cieux, soit que l'ombre ou vivent les 
aveugles ait un calme qui s'etende surl'ame, de meme que la nuit 
est plus silencieuse que le jour. 

Le sachem, prenant le calumet de paix charge de feuilles 
odorantes du laurier de montagne, poussa la premiere vapeur 
vers le ciel, la seconde vers la terre, et la troisieme autour de 
l'horizon. 31 Ensuite il le presente aux etrangers. Alors le frere 
d'Amelie dit : " Vieillard, puisse le ciel te benir dans tes enfants. 
Es-tu le pasteur de ce peuple qui t 'environne ? Permets-moi de me 
ranger parmi ton troupeau." 

"Etranger," repartit le sage des bois, "je ne suis qu'un 
simple sachem, fils d'Outalissi. On me nomme Chactas, parce 
qu'on pretend que ma voix a quelque douceur; ce qui peut 
provenir de la crainte que j'ai du Grand Esprit. Si nous te 
recevons comme un fils, nous ne devons point en retirer de lou- 
anges. Depuis longtemps nous sommes amis d'Ononthio,* dont 
le Soleilf habite de 1 'autre cote du lac sans rivage.| Les vieillards 
de ton pays ont discouru avec les vieillards du mien et mene dans 
leur temps la danse des forts; car nos aieux etaient une race 
puissante. Que sommes-nous aupres de nos aieux? Moi-meme 
qui te parle j'ai habite jadis parmi tes peres; je n'etais pas 

contre les Chicachas . . . dans la Louisiane, pres du fort de la Maubile ' ' 
(Journal, III, 452). Le Page du Pratz (II, 216), eerit "Chactas," en 
indiquant que pour suivre la prononciation, l'orthographe devrait etre 
' ' Chat-kas. ' ' 

3i Tous les matins, des que le Soleil par ait, le Grand Chef se met a, la 
porte de sa eabane, se tourne vers 1 'Orient et hurle ensuite trois fois, en 
se prosternant jusqu'a terre. On lui apporte ensuite un calumet qui ne sert 
qu 'en cette occasion, il fume, et pousse la f umee de son tabac vers 1 'Astre du 
jour; puis il fait la meme chose vers les trois autres parties du monde 
(Charlevoix, III, 420). Je n'ai vu nulle part que l'on garnit le calumet de 
feuilles de laurier, cependant Carver, apres avoir dit que les feuilles du 
sumac melangees au tabac lui donnent une plaisante odeur, ajoute que les 
Indiens se servent quelque fois en guise de tabac d'une plante grimpante 
appelee Segockimac, qui pousse sur les rocs et dont les feuilles persistantes 
ressemblent a celles du laurier (Carver, p. 31). 

* Le gouverneur frangais. f Le roi de France. X La mer. (Notes de 
Chateaubriand.) 



CHATEAUBEIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 225 

courbe* vers la terre comme aujourd'hui, et mon nom retentissait 
dans les forets. J'ai contracte" une dette envers la France. Si 
Ton me trouve quelque sagesse, c'est a un Francais que je la 
dois ; 32 ce sont ses leeons qui ont germe dans mon coeur : les 
paroles de l'homme, selon les voies du Grand-Esprit, sont des 
graines fines, que les brises de la fecondite dispersent dans mille 
climats, ou elles se developpent en pur mai's ou en fruits delicieux. 
Mes os, 6 mon fils, reposeraient mollement dans la cabane de la 
mort, si je pouvais, avant de descendre a la contree des ames, 
prouver ma reconnaissance par quelque service rendu aux com- 
patriotes de mon ancien hote du pays des blancs. " 

En achevant de prononcer ces mots, le Nestor des Natchez 
se couvrit la tete de son manteau et parut se perdre dans quelque 
grand souvenir. La beaute de ce vieillard, l'eloge d'un homme 
police prononce au milieu du desert par un sauvage, le titre de 
fils donne a un etranger, cette coutume naive des peuples de la 
nature de traiter de parents tous les homines touehaient pro- 
fondement Rene. 

Chactas, apres quelques moments de silence, reprit ainsi la 
parole: "Etranger du pays de l'Aurore, si je t'ai bien compris, 
il me semble que tu es venu pour habiter les forets ou le soleil 
se couche. Tu fais la une entreprise perilleuse; il n'est pas 
aussi aise que tu le penses d'errer par les sentiers du chevreuil. 
II f aut que les manitous du malheur t 'aient donne des songes bien 
funestes, pour t 'avoir conduit a une pareille resolution. Raconte- 
nous ton histoire, jeune etranger : je juge par la fraicheur de ta 
voix, et en touchant tes bras je vois par leur souplesse que tu 
dois etre dans l'age des passions. Tu trouveras ici des coeurs 
qui pourront compatir a tes souff ranees. Plusieurs des sachems 
qui nous eeoutent connaissent la langue et les moeurs de ton 
pays; tu dois apercevoir aussi dans la foule des blancs tes com- 
patriotes du fort Rosalie, qui seront charmes d 'entendre parler 
de leur pays." 

Le frere d'Amelie repondit d'une voix troublee : "Indien, 

32 Allusion au voyage de Chactas en France qui sera raconte en detail 
au livre vn. Le Francais dont il a regu les leeons est Fenelon, "le chef de 
la priere. ' ' 



226 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

ma vie est sans aventures, et le coeur de Rene ne se raconte 
point." 33 

Ces paroles brusques furent suivies d'un profond silence: 
les regards du frere d'Amelie etincelaient d'un feu sombre; les 
pensees s 'amoncelaient et s'entr'ouvraient sur son front comme 
des nuages; ses cheveux avaient une legere agitation sur les 
tempes. Mille sentiments confus regnaient dans la multitude: 
les uns prenaient l'etranger pour un insense, les autres pour un 
genie revetu de la forme humaine. 34 

Chactas, etendant la main dans l'ombre, prit celle de Rene. 
' ' Etranger, lui dit-il, pardonne a ma priere indiscrete ; les vieil- 
lards sont curieux; ils aiment a ecouter des histoires, pour avoir 
le plaisir de faire des legons." 

Sortant de l'amertume de ses pensees et ramene au sentiment 
de sa nouvelle existence, Rene supplia Chactas de le faire ad- 
mettre au nombre de ses guerriers Natchez et de l'adopter pour 
son fils. 35 

"Tu trouveras une natte dans ma cabane," repondit le 
sachem, " et mes vieux ans s'en rejouiront. Mais le Soleil est 

33 Dans une scene analogue des Martyrs (VI). Eudore montre plus 
d 'empressement a, faire le recit de ses aventures: "Y a-t-il rien de plus 
agreable que les paroles d'un homme qui a beaucoup voyage, et qui, assis 
a la table de son hote raconte, a l'abri de tout danger, les traverses de 
sa vie." Bene racontera d'ailleurs son histoire plus tard et ce sera cet 
episode detache des Natchez qui formera le fanieux ouvrage de Chateau- 
briand. 

34 Bene prend une atitude ultra-rom antique; mais les reflexions des 
Indiens peuvent avoir une origine homerique. Alcinoiis se demande de meme 
au sixieme livre de VOdyssee, apres qu'Ulysse a mange, si son hote n'est 
pas "quelqu'un des Immortels descendu de l'Olympe pour le visiter." Dans 
les Martyrs (I), Cymodocee s'adressant a Eudore lui dit: "Si tu n'es pas 
un dieu cache sous la forme d'un mortel, tu es sans doute un etranger egare 
comme moi dans les bois. ' ' Chateaubriand rappelle a ce propos les discours 
de Nausicaa a Ulysse (Martyrs, I, note 42). Voir aussi Actes des Apotres, 
XIV, 10, Turbse autem cum vi dissent quod fecerat Paulus, levaverunt vocem 
suam Lycaonice dicentes: Dii similes facti hominibus descenderunt ad nos. 

35 La ceremonie de 1 'adoption sera decrite au livre v. Chateaubriand a 
pu s'inspirer ici d'un passage de Lafitau (II, 308). Cependant d 'apres 
Lafltau on n'adoptait guere ainsi que des prisonniers destines a remplacer 
les guerriers tues. Comme le dit Lafltau, "le prisonnier ressuscite un 
ancien. " Charlevoix, au contraire, indique le cas d'un jeune Francais qui 
avait ete adopte par un des habitants d'Onnontague et ajoute: "Ces 
sortes d 'adoptions qui devinrent dans la suite assez frequentes, ont tous les 
avantages de celles qui se pratiquaient parmi les Bomains, a 1 'heritage pres, 
qui n'est rien chez les Sauvages; d'ailleurs elles n'en ont point les charges, 
elles-memes ne rec,oivent aucune atteinte de la guerre" (Charlevoix, I, 337). 



CHAT EAVBEI AND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 227 

absent; tu ne peux etre adopte qu'apres son retour. Mon hote, 
reflechis bien au parti que tu veux prendre. Trouveras-tu dans 
nos savanes le repos que tu y viens chercher? Es-tu certain de 
ne jamais nourrir dans ton cceur les regrets de la patrie? Tout 
se reduit souvent, pour le voyageur, a echanger dans la terre 
etrangere des illusions contre des souvenirs. 36 L'homme entre- 
tient dans son sein un desir de bonheur qui ne se detruit ni ne 
se realise ; il y a dans nos bois une plante dont la fleur se forme 
et ne s'epanouit jamais: c'est l'esperance." 

Ainsi parlait le sachem: melant la force a la douceur, il res- 
semblait a ces vieux chenes ou les abeilles ont cache leur miel. 

Chactas se leve a l'aide du bras de sa fille. Le frere d'Amelie 
suit le sachem, que la foule empressee reconduit a sa cabane. Les 
guides retournerent au fort Rosalie. 

Cependant Rene etait entre sous le toit de son hote, qu'ombra- 
geaient quatre superbes tulipiers. 37 On fait chauffer une eau 
pure dans un vase de pierre noire, pour laver les pieds du frere 
d'Amelie. 38 Chactas sacrifie aux manitous protecteurs des 
etrangers; 39 il brule en leur honneur des feuilles de saule; le 

36 Chateaubriand a renferme dans cette f ormule tout ce qui constitue 
1 'originalite du caractere de Bene dans les Natchez. II y a mis aussi son 
experience de voyageur et d 'exile. 

37 Decrit par Charlevoix comme "un arbre tres haut et tres beau qui, en 
Louisiane, est encore couvert de feuilles en Janvier" (Charlevoix, II, 6). 
Voir encore Casteby, I, 57; Le Page du Pratz, II, 34. Ce dernier auteur 
confond le tulipier et le magnolia. 

38 11 ne s'agit pas ici d'une reminiscence homerique, contrairement a 
ce que l'on serait tente de croire tout d'abord. Lafitau parlant des 
Indiens nous dit: "il s'en trouve encore qui ont la eoutume de laver les 
pieds aux etrangers, laquelle etait si religieusement observee par les 
Hebreux" (Lafitau, II, 88). Cependant. chez Chateaubriand lui-meme, 
on lave de la meme facon -les pieds de Lemodocus et ceux de sa fille 
avant le repas de Thospitalite "dans deux grands vases d'airain pleins 
de l'eau echauffee a la flamme" {Martyrs, II). Ce n'est pas au hasard 
que Chateaubriand parle d'un vase de pierre noire. Carver nous donne en 
effet les renseignements suivants: "In some of these parts is found a black 
hard clay, or rather stone, of which the Xaudowessies made their family 
utensils" (p. 101) ; et ailleurs: "The Xaudowessies make the pots in which 
they boil their victuals of the black clay or stone mentioned in my jour- 
nal; which resists the effects of the fire nearly as well as iron" (p. 233). 

39 Outre l'idee du premier Estre qu'ont les sauvages, et qu'ils con- 
fondent avec le soleil, ils reconnaissent encore plusieurs Esprits ou Genies 
d'un ordre inferieur . . . le nombre n'en est point determine . . . quoi- 
qu'ils leur donnent en general le nom d 'Esprit, d'Okli, ou de Manitou, 
qui leur sont des noms communs avec le premier Estre, ils ne les con- 
foiident rourtact jamais avec cet Estre superieur (Lafitau, I, 145). 



228 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

saule est agreable aux genies des voyageurs, parce qu'il croit au 
bord des fleuves, emblemes d'une vie errante. Apres ceci, Chactas 
presenta a Rene la calebasse de l'hospitalite, ou six generations 
avaient bu l'eau d'erable. 40 Elle etait couronnee d'hyacinthes 
bleues, qui repandaient une bonne odeur. Deux Indiens, celebres 
par leur esprit ingenieux, avaient crayonne sur ses fiancs dores 
Thistoire d'un voyageur egare dans les bois. Rene, apres avoir 
mouille ses levres dans la coupe fragile, la rendit aux mains 
tremblantes du patron de la solitude. Le calumet de paix, dont 
le fourneau etait fait d'une pierre rouge, fut de nouveau pre- 
sente au frere d'Amelie. 41 On lui servit en meme temps deux 
jeunes ramiers, qui, nourris de baies de genevrier par leur mere, 
etaient un mets dig;ne de la table d'un roi. Le repas acheve, 
une jeune fille aux bras nus parut devant l'etr anger, et, dansant 
la chanson de 1 'hospitalite, 42 elle disait : 

1 ' Salut, hote du Grand Esprit ! salut, 6 le plus sacre des 
hommes ! Nous avons du mais et une couche pour toi ; salut, 
hote du Grand Esprit ! salut, 6 le plus sacre des hommes ! " La 
jeune fille prit l'etranger par la main, le conduisit a la peau 
d'ours qui devait lui servir de lit, et puis elle se retira aupres 
de ses parents. Rene s'etendit sur la couche du chasseur, et 
dormit son premier sommeil chez les Natchez. 

Tandis que la nation du Soleil s'occupe encore de jeux et de 
fetes, une fatale destinee precipite de toutes parts les evenements. 
Abandonnant les champs fertilises par les sueurs de nos aieux, 
de jeunes hommes, plantes etrangeres arrachees au doux sol de 
la France, viennent en foule peupler de leur fructueux exil le 
fort qui commande le Meschacebe et qui fait redire a ses bords 



4 o C 'est ainsi qu'Eudore regoit une coupe de bronze a double fond, 
merveilleux ouvrage ou A 7 ulcain avait grave le nom d'Hercule delivrant 
Alceste (Martyrs, I). 

4i II j a un calumet pour la paix et un pour la guerre. lis s 'en servent 
encore pour terminer leurs differends, et pour affermir leurs alliances ou 
pour parler aux etrangers. II est compose d'une pierre rouge et polie 
comme du marbre (Lafitau, II, 320). 

42 They usually dance either before or after every meal; and by this 
cheerfulness probably render the Great Spirit a more acceptable sacrifice 
than by a formal and unanimous thanksgiving (Carver, p. 265). 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVJRES I ET II 229 

le nom charmant de Rosalie. Perrier, qui gouverne a la Nouvelle- 
Orleans les vastes champs de la Louisiane, Perrier ordonne a 
Chepar, vaillant capitaine des Franeais aux Natchez, de faire le 
denombrement de ses soldats, afin de porter ensuite, si telle etait 
la necessite, le soc ou la beche jusque dans les tombeaux des 
Indiens. 43 Chepar commande aussitot a ses bataillons de se 
deploy er a la premiere aurore sur les bords du fleuve. 

A peine les rayons du matin avaient jailli du sein des mers 
Atlantiques, que le bruit des tambours et les fanfares des trom- 
pettes font tressaillir le guerrier dans sa tente assoupi. Le desert 
s'epouvante et secoue sa chevelure de forets, la terreur penetre 
au fond de ses demeures, qui, depuis la naissance du monde, ne 
repetaient que les soupirs des vents, le bramement des cerfs et le 
chant des oiseaux. 44 

A ce signal, le demon des combats, le sanguinaire Areskoui,* 
et les autres esprits des ombres poussent un cri de joie. L'ange 
du Dieu des armees repond a leurs menaces en frappant sa lance 
d 'or sur son bouclier de diamant : telles sont les rumeurs de 
1 'Ocean lorsque les fleuves americains, enflant leurs urnes, f ondent 
tous ensemble sur leur vieux pere ; 1 'Ocean, f racassant ses vagues 
contre les rochers, etincelle ; il se souleve indigne, se precipite sur 
ses fils, et, les frappant de son trident, les repousse dans leur lit 
fangeux. Le soldat franeais entend ces bruits; il se reveille, 
comme le cheval de bataille qui dresse l'oreille au fremissement 
de l'airain, ouvre ses narines fumantes, remplit l'air de ses greles 
hennissements, mord les barreaux de sa creche, qu'il couvre 



43 Perier succeda en effet a Bienville comme gouverneur de la Louis- 
iane en 1724. Quant a Chepar ou Etcheparre, commandant du Fort 
Eosalie, e'est lui qui par sa conduite maladroite et in juste cause la reVolte 
des Natchez? Voir surtout, Le Page du Pratz, III, 231. Chateaubriand 
indiquera de nouveau au deuxieme livre les causes de cette revolte. 
D 'apres Le Page du Pratz, en effet, Chepar avait voulu non seulement 
s'emparer des terres des Indiens et les forcer a evacuer leur village, mais 
encore mettre en culture leur cimetiere. II ne semble pas que Perier ait 
ete exactement informe de la situation. 

44 C'est ainsi qu' Eris eveille le camp des Grecs. Iliade XI, 1-10. Yoiv 
aussi Jerusalem delivree, III, 1. 

* Genie ou Dieu de la guerre chez les sauvages. Note de Chateaubriand. 



230 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

d 'ecume, et decele dans toutes ses allures 1 'impatience, le courage, 
la grace et la legerete. 45 

Un mouvement general se manifeste dans le camp et dans le 
fort. Les fantassins courent aux faisceaux d'armes, les cavaliers 
voltigent deja sur leurs coursiers ; on entend le bruit des chaines 
et les roulements de la pesante artillerie. Partout brille Tacier, 
partout nottent les drapeaux de la France, drapeaux immortels 
couverts de cicatrices comme des guerriers vieillis dans les com- 
bats. Le choeur des instruments de Bellone anime de ses airs 
triomphants tous ces braves, tandis que Ton voit s'agiter en 
cadence le bonnet du grenadier, qui, repose sur ses armes, bat la 
mesure avec une gaiete qui inspire la terreur. 

Fille de Mnemosyne a la longue memoire, ame poetique des 
trepieds de Delphes et des colombes de Dodone, deesse qui 
ehantez autour du sarcophage d'Homere sur quelque greve in- 
connue de la mer Egee; vous qui, non loin de 1 'antique Parthe- 
nope, faites naitre le laurier du tombeau de Virgile; Muse, 
daignez quitter un moment tous ces morts harmonieux et leurs 
vivantes poussieres! abandonnez les rivages de l'Ausonie, les 
ondes du Sperchius et les champs ou fut Troie; venez m'animer 
de votre divin souffle : que je puisse nommer les capitaines et les 
bataillons de ce peuple indompte, dont les exploits fatigueraient 
meme, 6 Calliope, votre poitrine immortelle! 46 Au centre de 
l'armee paraissait ce bataillon vetu d'azur, qui lance les foudres 
de Bellone; c'est lui qui, dans presque tous les combats,, deter- 
mine la fortune a suivre la France ; instruit dans les sciences les 
plus sublimes, il fait servir le genie a couronner la victoire. 



45 . . . Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dedere, 
Stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus, 
Collectumque fremens volvit sub naribus ignem. 
At duplex agitur per lumbos spina; cavat que 
Tellurem et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. 

— Georgiques, iii, 88ff. 

46 Et maintenant, Muse qui habitez les demeures olympiennes, dites les 
rois et les princes de Danaeens. Car je ne pourrais nommer ni decrire la 
multitude, meme ayant dix langues, dix bouches, une langue infatigable et 
une poitrine d'airain, si les Muses Olympiades, filles de Zeus impetueux 
ne me rappelaient ceux qui vinrent sous Ilion (Iliade, ii, 484ff.). 



CHATEAUBEIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 231 

Nulle nation ne pent se vanter d'une pareille tronpe. Folard 47 
la commande, l'impassible Folard, qni peut, dans les plus grands 
dangers, mesnrer la courbe du boulet on de la bombe, indiqner 
la colline dont il faut se saisir, tracer et resoudre sur l'arene 
sanglante, au milieu des feux et de la mort, les figures et les 
problemes de Pythagore. 48 

L ? inf anterie, blanche et legere comme la neige, se forme 
rapidement devant les lentes machines qui vomissent le fer et 
la flamme. Marseille, dont les galeres remontent l'antique 
Egyptus; Lorient, qui fait voguer ses vaisseaux jusque dans les 
mers de Taprobane ; la Touraine, si delicieuse par ses fruits ; la 
Flandre aux plaines ensanglantees ; Lyon la romaine ; Strasbourg 
la germanique ; Toulouse, si celebre par ses troubadours ; Reims, 
ou les rois vont chercher leur couronne ; Paris, ou ils viennent la 
porter: toutes les villes, toutes les provinces, tous le fleuves des 
Gaules, ont donne ces fameux soldats a 1 'Amerique. 49 

Leurs armes ne sont plus l'epee ou l'angon; ils ne se parent 
plus du large bracha et des colliers d'or; ils portent un tube 
enflamme, surmonte du glaive de Bayonne : leur vetement est 
celui du lis, symbole de rhonneur virginal de la France. 50 

Divisee en cinquante compagnies cinquante capitaines choisis 



4 7 Ce n'est point la un nom imagine par Chateaubriand. Jean Charles 
Folard, ne a. Avignon le 13 fevrier 1669, mort en 1752, etait tres celebre 
comme tacticien au XVIII e siecle. Son Traite de la defense des places ses 
commentaires sur Polybe et son ouvrage intitule Nouvelles decouvertes sur 
la guerre, faisaient tres probablement partie de la bibliotheque de 
Chateaubriand quand il etait en garnison a Cambrai. 

48 Dans cette longue description, il est facile de reconnaitre une 
Sbauche du fameux tableau qui se trouve au sixieme livre des Martyrs. 

49 Et ceux qui vivaient dans Glissa; et ceux qui habitaient dans la cite 
bien batie d'Hypotheba, et la Sainte Onkhestos, bois sacre de Poseidaon; 
et ceux qui habitaient Arne qui abonde en raisins, et Mideia, et la sainte 
Nissa, et la ville frontiere Anthedon (Iliade, ii, 504ff.). Pour la suite 
c 'est plutot de Virgile que d'Homere que semble s'inspirer Chateaubriand. 
II lui emprunte le mouvement de la description des troupes italiennes 
plutot que des details precis: voir Eneide, vii, 641, 817. 

so Dans les Martyrs, les armes des Gaulois et des Francs: "L'epee du 
Gaulois ne le quitte jamais: mariee, pour ainsi dire, a son maitre, elle 
l'accompagne pendant la vie, elle le suit sur le bucher funebre, et descend 
avec lui au tombeau. " "D'autres [les Francs], au lieu de ce bouclier 
tiennent une espece de javelot, nomme angon, ou s'enfoncent deux fers 
recourbes" (Martyrs, VI). 



232 LITEBARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

commandent cette infanterie formidable. 51 La se montrent et 
l'mfatigable Toustain, qui naquit aux plaines de la Beauce, ou 
les moissons roulent en nappes d'or; et le prompt Armagnac, qui 
fut plonge en naissant dans ce fleuve dont les ondes inspirent le 
courage et les saillies; et le patient Tourville, nourri dans les 
vallees herbues ou dansent des paysannes a la haute coiffure et 
au corset de soie. Mais qui pourrait nommer tant d'illustres 
guerriers? Beaumanoir, sorti des rochers de l'Armorique; Cau- 
sans, que sa tendre mere mit au jour au bord de la fontaine de 
Laure; d'Aumale, qui goiita le vin d'Ai avant le lait de sa 
nourrice? Saint- Aulaire de Nimes, eleve sous un portique 
romain; et Gauthier de Paris dont la jeunesse enchantee coula 
parmi les roses de Fontenay, les chenes de Senard, les jardins 
de Chantilly, de Versailles et d'Ermenonville. 52 

Parmi ces vaillants capitaines, on distingue surtout le jeune 
d'Artaguette a la beaute de son visage, a l'air d'humanite et de 
douceur qui tempere l'intrepidite de son regard. 53 II suit le 
drapeau de l'lionneur, et brule de verser son sang pour la 
France; mais il deteste les injustices, et plus d'une fois, dans 

51 Dans 1 'enumeration qui suit Chateaubriand a introduit un certain 
nombre de noms de personnages celebres qui ont vecu a des epoques tres 
differentes et certainement ne sont jamais alles a la Louisiane. II en est 
ainsi sans doute de Beaumanoir, d 'Armagnac et de Tourville. On trouve 
cependant un Causans, ne a, Avignon, qui se conquit au debut du XVIII 6 
siecle la reputation d'un toque de genie par ses travaux sur la quadrature 
du cercle. Jean-Frangois Toustain, seigneur de Eichebourg (1716-1799) 
mousquetaire, lieutenant des marechaux, auteur d'un ouvrage sur le 
blason, fut emprisonne sous la Terreur. Un Toustain Dumanoir fut 
execute a Grenelle le 23 Janvier 1800. Saint Aulaire est sans doute le 
poete ami de madame de Lambert. On connait un Jean GautMer, medecin 
de Louis XVI, qui lui etait tres attache, fut emprisonne sous la Terreur et 
mourut en 1803. II est certain en tout cas qu'aucun officier portant aucun 
de ces noms ne se trouvait en Louisiane au moment de la revolte des 
Natchez. 

52 Ici Chateaubriand rappelle sans doute le souvenir de ses promenades 
autour de Paris. II dira ailleurs: ' ' Enfin si nous jugeons des Gaules par 
la France, je n 'ai pas vu en Amerique de plus belles forets que celles de 
Compiegne et de Fontainebleau" (Martyrs, IX, note 375). 

5 3 D 'Artaguette est un personnage historique. Pierre d 'Artaguette 
commandait un fort sur le Mississipi et fut brule par les Indiens au cours 
d'une expedition contre les Chacachas en 1736 (Jesuits relations, LXX, 
249, 316; LXVIII, 193). Un autre d'Artaguette, Diron d'Artaguette, 
avait ete envoye en Louisiane pour enqueter sur Bienville. On trouve le 
recit de sa mort dans le Bannissement des Jesuites de la Louisiane, par 
Francois Philibert Watrin, ecrit a, Paris le 3 .septembre 1764, mais 
imprime seulement a Paris en 1865 par le P. Carayon. 



CEATEAUBBIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 233 

les conseils de la guerre, il a defendu les malheureux Indiens 
eontre la cupidite de leurs oppresseurs. 

A la gauche de l'infanterie s'etendent les lestes escadrons de 
ces especes de centaures au vetement vert, clont le casque est 
surmonte d'un dragon. 54 On voit sur leurs tetes se mouvoir leurs 
aigrettes de crin qu'agitent les mouvements du coursier, retenu 
avec peine dans le rang de ses compagnons. Ces cavaliers en- 
foncent leurs jambes dans un cuir noirci, depouille du buffle 
sauvage ; un long sabre rebondit sur leur cuisse, lorsque, balayant 
la terre avec les flancs de leur coursier, ils fondent le pistolet a 
la main sur rennemi. Selon les hasards de Bellone, on les voit 
quitter leurs chevaux a la criniere doree, combattre a pied sur la 
montagne, s'elancer de nouveau sur leurs coursiers, descendre 
et remonter encore. Ces guerriers ont presque tous vu le jour 
non loin de ce fleuve ou le soleil murit un vin leger, propre a 
eteindre la soif du soldat dans l'ardeur de la bataille; ils obe- 
issent a la voix du brillant Villars. 

A l'aile opposee du corps de l'armee parait immobile la 
pesante cavalerie, 55 dont le vetement, d'un sombre azur, est 
ranime par un pli brillant emprunte du voile de l'Aurore. Les 
glands, d'un or file et tordu, sautent en etincelant sur les epaules 
des guerriers, au trot mesure des chevaux. Ces guerriers cou- 
vrent leurs fronts du chapeau gaulois, dont le triangle bizarre 
est orne d'une rose blanche qu'attacha souvent la main d'une 
vierge timide, et que surmonte de sa cime legere un gracieux 
f aisceau de plumes. C 'etait vous, intrepide Nemours, qui meniez 
ces fameux chevaux aux combats. 



s* A 1 'aile gauche de ees legions, la cavalerie des allies deployait son 
rideau mobile. Sur des coursiers tachetes comme des tigres et prompts 
comme des aigles, se balangaient avec grace les cavaliers de Numance de 
Sagonte et des bords enchantes du Betis (Martyrs, VI). 

55 "A l'aile opposee de l'armee se tenait immobile la troupe superbe des 
chevaliers romains' ; (Martyrs, VI). Le reste du paragraphe est d'ailleurs 
different. Chateaubriand n 'a conserve dans les Martyrs que la charpente 
de la description des Natchez et comme le plan de la revue. II est d'ail- 
leurs possible qu'il ait remanie son ebauche des Natchez d'apres le 
tableau plus acheve des Martyrs. Un rapprochement des deux morceaux 
semble bien montrer que la description des Natchez avec ses periphrases 
ingenieuses a ete ecrite a une date ou Chateaubriand n 'etait pas encore 
maitre de sa plume et n'avait pas trouve son style. 



234 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Mais pourrais-je oublier cette phalange qui, placee derriere 
toute l'armee, devait la defendre des surprises de l'ennemi? 
Sacre bataillon de laboureurs, vous etiez descendus des rochers de 
l'Helvetie, vetus de la pourpre de Mars; la pique dont vos ai'eux 
percerent les tyrans est encore dans vos mains rustiques : au 
milieu du desordre des camps et de la corruption du nouvel age, 
vous gardez vos vertus premieres. Le souvenir de vos demeures 
champetres vous poursuit; ce n'est qu'a regret que vous vous 
trouvez exiles sur de lointains rivages, et Ton craint de vous 
faire entendre ces airs de la patrie qui vous rappellent vos peres, 
vos meres, vos f reres, vos soeurs, et le mugissement des troupeaux 
sur vos montagnes. 

D'Erlach tient sous sa discipline ces enfants de Guillaume 
Tell; il descend d'un de ces Suisses qui teignirent de leur sang, 
aupres d 'Henri III, les lis abandonnes. Heureux si, sur les 
degres du Louvre, les fils de ces etrangers ne renouvellent point 
leur sacrifice. 56 

Enfin le Canadien Henry dirige a l'avant-garde cette troupe 
de Francais demi-sauvages, enfants sans soucis des forets du 
nouveau monde. Ces chasseurs, assembles pele-mele a la tete de 
l'armee, portent pour tout vetement une tunique de lin qu'une 
ceinture rapproche de leurs flancs; une corne de chevreuil, ren- 
f ermant le plomb et le salpetre, s 'attache par un cordon en forme 
de baudrier sur leur poitrine; une courte carabine rayee se 
suspend comme un carquois a leurs epaules; 57 rarement ils man- 
quent leur but, et poursuivent les hommes dans les bois comme 
les daims et les cerfs. Rivaux des peuples du desert, ils en out 
pris les gouts, les moeurs et la liberte; ils savent decouvrir les 
traces d'un ennemi, lui tendre des embuches, ou le forcer dans 
sa retraite. En vain les pandours, qui les accompagnent sur 
leurs petits chevaux de race tartare; en vain ces cavaliers du 



56 On trouve en effet des d'Erlach dans la garde Suisse de facon a peu 
pres continue. 

57 Les coureurs canadiens sont devenus les Gaulois impetueux des 
Martyrs: "En vain les cavaliers' les plus legers voudraient les devancer 
a la charge, les Gaulois rient de leurs efforts, voltigent a la tete des 
chevaux, et semblent dire: 'Vous saisiriez plutot les vents sur la plaine, ou 
les oiseaux dans les airs' " (Martyrs, VI). 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 235 

Danube, aux longs pantalons, aux vestes fourrees flottant en 
arriere, au bonnet oriental, aux moustaches retroussees, veulent 
devancer les coureurs canadiens : moins rapide est l'hirondelle 
effleurant les ondes, moins leger le duvet du roseau qu'emporte 
un tourbillon. 58 

Les troupes ainsi rassemblees bordaient les rives du fleuve, 
lorsque, monte sur une cavale blanche, elevee vagabonde, dans les 
savanes mexicaines, voici venir Chepar au milieu d'un cortege 
de guerriers. 

Ne sous la tente des Luxembourg et des Catinats, le vieux 
capitaine ne voyait la societe que dans les armes ; le monde pour 
lui etait un camp. Inutilement il avait traverse les mers ; sa vue 
restait circonscrite au cercle qu'elle avait jadis embrasse, et 
l'Amerique sauvage ne reproduisait a ses yeux que l'Europe 
civilisee : ainsi le vers laborieux qui ourdit la plus belle trame, 
ne connait cependant que sa voute d'or, et ne peut etendre ses 
regards sur la nature. 59 

Le chef s'avance et s'arrete bientot a quelques pas du front 
des guerriers ; les roulements des tambours se font entendre, les 
capitaines courent a leur poste, les soldats s 'aff ermissent dans 
leurs rangs. Au second signal, la ligne se fixe et devient immo- 
bile, semblable alors au mur d'une cite au-dessus duquel flottent 
les drapeaux de Mars. 60 



58 C 'est a peu de chose pres le costume que Chateaubriand se procure 
apres avoir passe le Mohawk. ' l J 'achetai des Indiens un habillement 
complet: deux peaux d'ours, l ; une pour demi-toge, 1 'autre pour lit. Je 
joignis a mon accoutrement la calotte de drap rouge a cotes, la casaque, 
la ceinture, la corne pour rappeler les chiens, la bandouliere du coureur 
des bois" {Memoir es d'outre-tombe, I, 372). 

5 9 Je ne sais ou Chateaubriand a pu trouver les renseignements qu'il 
nous donne sur la carriere anterieure de Chepar. Le Page du Pratz, 
Dumont, les missionnaires en Louisiane s'accordent tous pour voir en lui 
un aventurier sans scrupule et brutal. 

eo Cependant l'oeil etait frappe d'un mouvement universel: on voyait 
les signaux du porte-etendard qui plantait le jalon des lignes, la course 
impetueuse du cavalier, les ondulations des 'soldats qui se nivelaient sous 
le cep du centurion. On entendait de toutes parts les greles hennissements 
des coursiers, le cliquetis des chaines, les sourds roulements des balistes et 
des catapultes, les pas reguliers de l'infanterie, la voix des chefs qui 
repetaient 1 'ordre, le bruit des piques qui s 'elevaieut et s 'abaissaient au 
commandement des tribuns (Martyrs, VI). 



236 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Les tambours se taisent, une voix s'eleve et va se repetant 
le long des bataillons, de chef en chef comme d 'echo en echo. 
Mille tubes enleves de la terre frappent ensemble l'epaule du 
fantassin; les cavaliers tirent leurs sabres, dont l'acier, refle- 
chissant les rayons du soleil mele ses eclairs aux triples ondes 
au feu des bai'onnettes ; 61 ainsi, durant une nuit d'hiver, brille 
une solitude ou des tribus canadiennes celebrent la fete de leurs 
genies; reunies sur la surface solide d'un fleuve, elles dansent a 
la lueur des pins allumes de toutes parts ; les cataractes enchainees, 
les montagnes de neige, les forets de cristal, se revetent de 
splendeur, tandis que les sauvages croient voir les esprits du nord 
voguer dans leurs canots aeriens, avec des pagaies de flammes, 
sur l'aurore mouvante de Boree. 

Cependant les rangs de l'armee s'entrouvent et presentent 
au commandant des allees regulieres ; il les parcourt avec lenteur, 
examinant les guerriers soumis a ses ordres, comme un jardinier 
se promene entre les files des jeunes arbres dont sa main affermit 
les racines et dirige les rameaux. 

Aussitot que la revue est finie, Chepar veut que les capitaines 
exercent les troupes aux jeux de Mars. L'ordre est donne, le 
coup de baguette retentit. Soudain vous eussiez vu le soldat 
tendre et porter en avant le pied gauche, avec l'assurance et la 
fermete d'un Hercule. L'armee entiere s'ebranle; ses pas egaux 
mesurent la marche que frappent les tambours. Les jambes 
noircies des soldats ouvrent et ferment une longue avenue, en se 
croisant comme les ciseaux d'une jeune fille qui decoupe d'inge- 
nieux ouvrages. Par intervalles, les caisses d 'airain, que recouvre 
la peau de l'onagre, se taisent au signe du geant qui les guide; 
alors mille instruments, fils d'Eole, animent les forets, tandis 
que les cymbales du negre se choquent dans l'air et tournent 
comme deux soleils. 62 



si II se fait un prof ond silence. Cesar, du milieu de la legion chretienne, 
or donne d'elever la cotte d'armes de pourpre, signal du combat; les 
archers tendent leurs arcs, les fantassins baissent leurs piques, les cavaliers 
tirent a la fois leurs epees, dont les eclairs se croisent dans les airs 
(Martyrs, VI). 

62 Pour un commentaire de tout ce passage voir J. Lemaitre, Chateau- 
briand, pp. 70ff. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 237 

Rien de plus merveilleux et de plus terrible a la fois que 
de voir ces legions marcher au son de la musique, comme si elles 
ouvraient les danses de quelque fete; nul ne peut les regarder 
sans se sentir possede de la fureur des combats, sans bruler de 
partager leur gloire et leurs perils. Les fantassins s'appuient et 
tournent sur leurs ailes de cavalerie comme sur deux poles; 
tantot ils s'arretent, ebranlent la solitude par de pesantes de- 
charges, ou par un feu successif qui remonte et redescend le long 
de la ligne comme les orbes d 'un serpent ; tantot ils baissent tous 
a la fois la pointe de la baionnette, si fatale dans des mains 
franchises : coucher leurs armes a terre, les reprendre, les lancer 
a leur epaule, les presenter en salut, les charger ou se reposer sur 
elles, ce n'est pas la duree d'un moment pour ces enfants de la 
Victoire. 

A cet exercice des armes succedent de savantes manoeuvres. 
Tour a tour 1 'armee s 'allonge et se resserre, tour a tour s 'avance 
et se retire ; ici elle se creuse comme la corbeille de Flore ; la elle 
s'enfle comme les contours d'une urne de Corinthe; le Meandre 
se replie moins de fois sur lui-meme; la danse d 'Ariadne, gravee 
sur le bouclier d'Achille, avait moins d'erreurs que les laby- 
rinthes traces sur la plaine par ces disciples de Mars. Leurs 
capitaines font prendre aux bataillons toutes les figures de l'art 
d 'Uranie : ainsi des enfants etendent des soies legeres sur leurs 
doigts legers; sans confondre ou briser le dedale fragile, ils le 
deploient en etoile, le dessinent en croix, le ferment en cercle, 
et l'entr 'ouvrent doucement sous la forme d'un berceau. 63 

Les Indiens assembles admiraient ces jeux, qui leur cachaient 
des tempetes. 



63 Chateaubriand s 'est inspire ici avant tout de ses souvenirs pour 
toute eette partie. C'est la description en style d 'epopee d'une des nom- 
breuses revues auxquelles il a participe comme jeune sous-lieutenant. 



238 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 



LIVRE II 

Satan, planant dans les airs au-dessus de l'Amerique, jetait 
un regard desespere sur cette partie de la terre, ou le Sauveur le 
poursuit comme le soleil qui, s'avancant des portes de l'Orient 
chasse devant lui les tenebres; le Chili, le Perou, le Mexique, la 
Calif ornie, reconnaissent deja les lois de l'Evangile; d'autres 
colonies chretiennes couvrent les rivages de l'Atlantique, et des 
missionnaires ont enseigne le vrai Dieu aux sauvages des deserts. 
Satan, rempli de pro jets de vengeance, va aux enfers rassembler 
le conseil des demons. 1 

II deroule, devant ces compagnons de douleurs, le tableau de 
ce qu'il a fait pour perdre la race humaine, pour partager le 
monde cree avec le Createur, pour opposer le mal au bien sur la 
terre, et, au dela de la terre, l'enfer au ciel. II propose aux 
legions maudites un dernier combat; il veut armer toutes les 
nations idolatres du nouveau continent, il veut unir toutes ces 
nations dans un vaste complot, afin d'exterminer les Chretiens. 2 

C 'est au milieu des Natchez qu 'il apercoit les passions propres 
a seconder son entreprise. "Dieux de l'Amerique, s'ecrie-t-il, 



iOn trouve dans ce paragraphe un resume des travaux des mission- 
naires dans l'ordre meme ou ils sont exposes dans les Lettres edifiantes. 
Chateaubriand developpera ce passage dans le Genie du cliristianisme {Les 
Missions, partie IV, livre IV). On trouve egalement dans les Martyrs un 
passage analogue au moment ou Satan convoque 1'assemblee des esprits 
infernaux. "Le Prince des tenebres achevait en ce moment meme la 
revue des temples de la terre. II avait visite les sanctuaires du mensonge 
et de 1 'imposture, l'antre de Trophonius, les soupiraux de la sibylle, les 
trepieds de Delphes, la pierre de Teutates, les souterrains d'Isis, de Mitra, 
de Wishnou. Partout les sacrifices etaient suspendus, les oracles aban- 
donnes, et les prestiges de l'idolatrie pres de s'evanouir devant la verite 
du Christ. Satan gemit de la perte de sa puissance, mais du moins il ne 
cedera pas la victoire sans combat. II jure, par l'eternite de l'enfer 
d'aneantir les adorateurs du vrai Dieu" (Martyrs, VIII). 

2 lei nous avons simplement 1 'indication d'un plan ou simplement 
quelques notes prises en lisant un discours: (a) ce que nous avons fait; 
(b) ce que nous devons faire. Cette division se retrouve tres exactement 
dans le discours prononce par Satan devant le conseil des demons au 
debut du quatrieme chant de la Jerusalem delivree. Chateaubriand a 
developpe plus longuement dans les Martyrs, VIII, ce qu'il a simplement 
indique ici. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 239 

anges tombes avec moi, vous qui vous faites adorer sous la forme 
d'un serpent; 3 vous que Ton invoque comme les genies des castors 
et des ours; vous qui, sous le nom de manitous, remplissez les 
songes, inspirez les craintes ou entretenez les esperances des 
peuples barbares ; vous qui murmurez dans les vents, qui mugissez 
dans les cataractes, qui presidez au silence ou a la terreur des 
forets, allez defendre vos autels. 4 Repandez les illusions et les 
tenebres; soufflez de toute part la discorde, la jalousie, l'amour, 
la haine, la vengeance. Melez-vous aux conseils ou aux jeux des 
Natchez; que tout devienne prodige chez des hommes ou tout est 
fetes et combats. Je vous donnerai mes ordres : soyez attentifs a 
les executer. " 5 

II dit et le Tartare pousse un rugissement de joie qui fut 



3 Le plus grand nombre des nations sauvages a une extreme horreuT 
des serpents, tandis qu'il yen a d'autres au contraire qui s'en nourris- 
sent. . . . Mais ce qu'il y a de plus remarquable, c'est que les os et les 
peaux des serpents entrent dans presque tous les mysteres de leurs sorts. 
Leurs Devins s'en font des couronnes et des ceintures comme les 
Bacchantes . . . (Lafitau, I, 253). 

* They hold also that there are good spirits of a lesser degree, who have 
their particular departments, in which they are constantly contributing 
to the happiness of mortals. These they suppose to preside over all the 
extraordinary productions of nature, such as those lakes, rivers, or moun- 
tains that are of uncommon magnitude; and likewise the beasts, birds, 
fishes, and even vegetables or stones that exceed the rest of their species 
in size or singularity (Carver, p. 382). Lafitau n'entre pas dans les 
memes details: "Ces esprits sont tous des Genies subalternes; ils recon- 
naissent meme dans la plupart un caractere mauvais plus porte a faire du 
mal que du bien; ils ne laissent pas que d'en etre esclaves et de les 
harasser plus que le Grand-Esprit" (Lafitau, I, 146). 

5 On peut rapprocher un passage des Martyrs; c'est la conclusion du 
discours de Satan, "Vous tous, dieux des Nations, secondez mes efforts: 
allez, volez, excitez le zele du peuple et des pretres. Eemontez sur 
l'Olympe, faites revivre les fables des poetes. Que les bois de Dodone 
et de Daphne rendent de nouveaux oracles; que le monde soit partage 
entre des fanatiques et des Athees; que les poisons de la volupte allument 
des passions feroces; et de tous ces maux reunis, faisons naitre contre 
ces Chretiens une epouvantable persecution (Martyrs, VIII). Les deus: 
passages ont une source commune dans la Jerusalem delivree : 
Sia destin cio ch 'io voglio: altri disperso 
Se'n vada errando; altri rimanga ucciso; 
Altri, in cure d 'amor lascive immerso, 
Idol si faccia un dolce sguardo e un riso: 
Sia'l ferro in contro al suo rettor converso 
Da lo stuol ribellante e'n se diviso: 
Pera il campo e riiini, e resti in tutto 
Ogni vestigio suo con lui distrutto. 

— Jerusalem delivree, IV, xvii. 



240 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

entendu dans les forets du nouveau monde. Areskoui, 6 demon 
de la guerre, Athaensic, 7 qui excite a la vengeance, le genie des 
fatales amours, mille autres puissances infernales se levent a la 
fois pour seconder les desseins du prince des tenebres. Celui-ci 
va chercher sur la terre le demon de la renommee, qui n'avait 
point assiste au conseil infernal. 8 

Le soleil ne faisait que paraitre a l'horizon, lorsque le frere 
d'Amelie ouvrit les yeux dans la demeure d'un sauvage. L 'ecorce 
qui servait de porte a la hutte avait ete roulee et relevee sur le 
toit. 9 Enveloppe dans son manteau, Rene se trouvait couche sur 
sa natte de maniere que sa tete etait placee a l'ouverture de la 
cabane. 10 Les premiers objets qui s'offrirent a sa vue, en sortant 
d'un profond sommeil, furent la vaste coupole d'un ciel bleu ou 
volaient quelques oiseaux et la cime des tulipiers qui fremissaient 
au souffle des brises du matin. Des ecureuils se jouaient dans les 
branches de ces beaux arbres, et des perruches sifflaient sous 
leurs feuilles satinees. 11 Le visage tourne vers le dome azure, le 



«L 'Areskoui des Hurons, et l'Agriskoue des Iroquois est tellement le 
Dieu des guerriers qu'ils ne se servent presque point d 'autre nom dans 
leurs invocations, quand ils ont leve la hache, et c'est principalement en 
cette occasion qu'ils l'invoquent sous ce nom (Lafitau, I, 206). 

7 Lafitau consacre une longue dissertation au mythe d'Ata-entsic. 
"Ce nom d'Ata n'est point different de l'Ata ou l'Ate d'Homere, et de 
l'Atte de l'Evasme des Bacchantes. Cette femme est l'ayeule de Tharon- 
biaouagon leur Dieu . . ., mais a, la difference de son petit-fils, qui ne 
cherche qu' a faire du bien, elle est d'un tres mauvais naturel; elle ne 
se nourrit que de la chair des serpents et des viperes; elle preside a, la 
mort; elle suce elle-meme le sang des hommes, qu'elle fait mourir de 
maladie et de langueur" (Lafitau, I, 244). 

s Dans les Martyrs la scene analogue est beaucoup plus longuement 
developpee. On y trouve non seulement le ' ' demon de 1 'homicide aux bras 
teints de sang," et le demon de la volupte, qui correspond au genie des 
fatales amours, mais le demon de la fausse sagesse qui ne parait pas ici 
(Martyrs, VIII). 

9 Les portes des cabanes sont des ecorces mobiles et suspendues en 
dehors par en haut (Lafitau, II, 15). 

io Ils etendent sur les ecorces qui en font le plancher des nattes de 
jonc et des peaux de fourrure. Sur cette couche, ils s 'etendent sans autre 
fac,on, enveloppes dans les memes couvertures qu'ils portent sur eux 
pendant le jour (Lafitau, II, 12). 

11 Charlevoix en decrivant le cypres de la Louisiane ajoute que les 
perroquets font ordinairement leur nid sur ses branches (Charlevoix, II, 2). 
Le Page du Pratz parle egalement des perroquets de la Louisiane, "point 
aussi gros que ceux que l'on apporte ordinairement en France. Ils font 
grand bruit en l'air qui retentit au loin de leurs oris aigres" (Le Page 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVRES I ET II 241 

jeune voyageur enfoncait ses regards dans ce dome qui lui parais- 
sait d'une immense profondeur et transparent comme le verre. 
Un sentiment confns de bonheur, trop ineonnu a Rene, reposait 
au fond de son ame, en meme temps qne le f rere d 'Amelie croyait 
sentir son sang rafraichi descendre de son coeur dans ses veines, 
et par un long detour remonter a sa source: telle l'antiquite 
nous peint les ruisseaux de lait s'egarant au sein de la terre, 
lorsque les hommes avaient leur innocence, et que le soleil de 
l'age d'or se levait aux chants d'un peuple de pasteurs. 12 

Un mouvement dans la cabane tira le voyageur de sa reverie ; 
il apercut le patriarche des sauvages assis sur une natte de 
roseaux. Aupres du foyer, Sasega, 13 laborieuse matrone, faisait 
infuser des dentelles de Loghetto avec des ecorces de pin rouge, 
qui donnent une pourpre eclatante. 14 Dans un lieu retire, la 



du Pratz, II, 129). J'ai longuement discute ailleurs 1 'existence des 
perroquets sur les bords du Mississipi. On les voit reparaitre aves les 
ecureuils dans le prologue d'Atala. Voir Chinard, G., "Notes sur le pro- 
logue d'Atala," Modern philology, XII, 3 (July, 1915). 

i 2 Haec pater Aeoliis properat dum Lemnius oris, 
Euandrum ex humili tecto lux suscitat alma, 
Et matutini volucrum sub culmine cantus. 

— Eneide, viii, 454. 
Ces vers de Yirgile ont ete cites par Chateaubriand lui-meme comme 
justification d'un passage des Martyrs: "Aussitot que le gazouillement des 
hirondelles eut annonce a Lasthenes le lever du jour, il se hate de quitter sa 
couche (Martyrs, IV). Mais Chateaubriand se souvient egalement ici d'un 
passage de la Jerusalem delivree auquel il fait allusion deux paragraphes 
plus loin. C'est le reveil d'Erminie chez les pasteurs: 

Non si desto sin che garrir gli augelli 
Non senti lieti e salutar gli albori, 
E mormorar il flume e gli arboscelli, 
E con l'onda scherzar l'aura e coi fiori. 
Apre i languidi lumi, e guarda quelli 
Alberghi solitarii de'pastori; 
E parle voce udir tra l'acqua e i rami, 
Ch 'a i sospiri ed al pianto la richiami. ' ' 
— Jerusalem delivree, VII, 5. 
is Carver dans son vocabulaire indien, donne comme traduction en chipe- 
way du mot anglais proper, Sawsega (Carver, p. 428). 

14 Dans les petits ouvrages qu 'elles font avec ces diff erentes sortes de 
fils, elles entremelent fort proprement le poil d'elan, de boeuf sauvage, et 
de porc-epy, teints en diverses couleurs. Pour faire ces diverses teintures, 
elles se servent de differens sues qu 'elles expriment de certaines plantes, 
ou bien elles les font bouillir avec des racines ou des herbes, qui leur sont 
connues, avec des ecorces et des copeaux de quelques arbres, dont le sue 
s 'imbibe f acilement dans les choses qu 'elles veulent teindre, apres quelques 
bouillons et sans autre preparation (Lafitau, II, 160). 



242 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

niece de Chactas empennait des fleches avec des plumes de 
faucon. 15 Celuta, son amie, qui l'etait venue visiter, semblait 
l'aider dans son travail; mais sa main arretee sur l'ouvrage 
annoncait que d'autres sentiments occupaient son coeur. 

Le frere d'Amelie s 'etait endormi l'homme de la societe, il 
se reveillait 1'homme de la nature. Le ciel etait sur sa tete comme 
le dais de sa couche ; des courtines de f euillages et de neurs 
semblaient pendre de ce dais superbe; des vents soufflaient la 
fraicheur et la sante; des hommes libres, des femmes pures, 
entouraient la couche du jeune homme. II se serait volontiers 
touche pour s 'assurer de son existence, pour se convaincre 
qu'autour de lui tout n 'etait pas illusion. Tel fut le reveil du 
guerrier aime d'Armide, lorsque l'enchanteresse, trouvant son 
ennemi plonge dans le sommeil, l'emporta 16 sur une nue et le 
deposa dans les bocages des iles Fortunees. 

Rene se leve, sort, se plonge dans l'onde voisine, respire 
l'odeur des sassafras et des liquidambars, 17 salue la lumiere de 
1 'orient, les flots du Meschacebe, les savanes et les f orets, et rentre 
dans la cabane. 

Cependant les femmes souriaient des manieres de l'etranger ; 
c 'etait de ce sourire de femmes qui ne blesse point. Celuta fut 
chargee d'appreter le repas de l'hote de Chactas; elle prit de la 
farine de mai's, qu'elle petrit avec de l'eau de la fontaine; elle 



is Leurs fleches sont f aites de roseau et sont empennees de plumes de 
quelque gros oyseau (Lafitau, II, 196). 

is Chateaubriand cite ici le Tasse de memoire et conf ond plusieurs pas- 
sages de la Jerusalem delivree, notamment le reveil d'Erminie chez les 
bergers, que nous avons cite plus haut (note 12), et 1 'enlevement de Eenaud 
par Armide. L'enchanteresse en effet ne trouve pas le heros endormi, mais 
le fait endormir par une de ses suivantes {Jerusalem delivree, XIV, 65) ; 
elle l'enleve non sur une nuee, mais dans un char, "sovra un suo carro;" 
Eenaud est transports dans une des Iles Fortunees qui est decrite a plusieurs 
endroits, notamment au livre xvi. Les hommes libres, les femmes pures, ne 
pouvaient se trouver dans Tile d'Armide. Chateaubriand pense bien plutot 
au vieux berger et a ses deux fils qui font un tel eloge de la vie champetre : 
Ne cura o voglia ambiziosa o avara 
Mai nel tranquillo del mio petto alberga. . . . 

— Jerusalem delivree, VII, x. 

17 Carver decrit le "sweet gum tree, liquid amber or copalm, not only 
extremely common, but it affords a balm the virtues of which are infinite ' ' 
(p. 505). Le meme auteur parle egalement du sassafras et ajoute. "the 
leaves which yield an agreeable fragrance are large*" (p. 507). 



CHATEAUBEIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 243 

en forma un gateau qu 'elle presenta a la flamme, en le soutenant 
avec une pierre. is Elle fit ensuite bouillir de l'eau dans un vase 
en forme de corbeille; elle versa cette eau sur la poudre de la 
racine de smilax; ce melange, expose a l'air, se changea en une 
gelee rose d'un gout delicieux. 19 Alors Celuta retira le pain du 
foyer et l'offrit au frere d'Amelie; elle lui servit en meme temps, 
avec la gelee nouvelle, un rayon de miel et de l'eau d'erable. 20 

Ay ant fini ces choses avec un grand zele, elle se tint debout 
fort agitee devant l'etranger. Celui-ci enseigne par Chactas, se 
leva, imposa les deux mains en signe de deuil sur la tete de 
rindienne, car elle avait perdu son pere et sa mere, et elle 
n'avait plus pour soutien que son frere Outougamiz. 21 La famille 
poussa les trois cris de douleur, appeles cris de veuve; Celuta 
retourna a son ouvrage; Rene commenca son repas du matin. 22 



!« Probablement un souvenir personnel, car c 'est encore la methode 
usitee par les ; ' prospectors ' ' en Amerique, et Chateaubriand a du au cours 
de son voyage au Niagara assister a la confection de ces galettes de mais. 
Lafitau indique que c'etait rarement et par "par delicatesse" que les 
Indiennes confectionnaient cette lointaine imitation de pain, d 'ordinaire 
remplacee par la "sagamite" (Lafitau, II, 94). 

!9 Smilax, pseudo-China ; Smilax aspera, etc. They chop the roots in 
pieces, which are afterwards well pounded in a wooden mortar, then being 
mixed with clean water, in a tray or trough, they strain it through baskets; 
the sediment, which settles at the bottom of the second vessel, is afterwards 
dried in the open' air, and is then a very fine reddish flour or meal: a small 
quantity of this mixed with warm water and sweetened with honey, when 
cool, becomes a beautiful, delicious jelly, very nourishing and wholesome 
(Bartram, p. 239). 

20 Pour M. Le Braz (Au pays d'exil de Chateaubriand (Paris, 1909), 
p. 161), il n'y aurait dans ce passage qu'un souvenir de Charlotte Ives que 
Chateaubriand a du voir plus d'une fois preparer et servir le the dans le 
presbytere de Beccles. Ce souvenir d'interieur anglais est en tout cas 
melange et colore d'une documentation purement americaine. 

21 Chez les Sioux et chez quelques autres peuples de leur voisinage, ce 
sont les hommes qui pleurent ainsi, en mettant la main sur la tete des 
etrangers qui les visitent pour honorer les morts de leurs nation (Lafitau, 
II, 442). 

22 Je n 'ai pu retrouver ( ' les cris de veuve ' ' chez aucun voyageur. II est 
tres probable que Chateaubriand a modifie les passages suivants de Lafitau. 
"Le Lessus et les Emulations musicales se font assez regulierement par lea 
femmes pendant tout le temps du deuil, trois fois le jour, au lever du soleil, 
a son midi, et a, son coucher. . . . Chez quelques-unes des nations Iroquoises 
et au Bresil, c'est une occupation ordinaire des femmes toutes les fois 
qu'elles vont aux bois et aux champs . . .; chemin faisant chacuue fait sa 
partie, mais cela ne prejudicie en rien a, leur bonne humeur; car apres avoir 
fini, elles sont aussi pretes a, rire, que si elles n 'avaient pas pense a pleurer ' ' 
(Lafitau, II, 442). On remarquera que Celuta, le rite accompli, se remet 
a son travail sans plus penser a sa douleur. 



244 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Alors Celuta, chargee d'amuser le guerrier blanc, se mit a 
chanter. Elle disait : 

' ' Void le plaqueminier ; sous ce plaqueminier il y a un gazon ; 
sous ce gazon repose un femme. Moi qui pleure sous le plaque- 
minier, je m'appelle Celuta: je suis fille de la femme qui repose 
sous le gazon ; elle etait ma mere. 

"Ma mere me dit en mourant: 'Travaille; sois fidele a ton 
epoux quand tu l'auras trouve; s'il est heureux, sois humble et 
timide, n'approche de lui que lorsqu'il te dira: "Viens, mes 
levres veulent parler aux tiennes. 

" 'S'il est infortune, sois prodigue de tes caresses; que ton 
ame environne la sienne, que ta chair soit insensible aux vents et 
aux douleurs. Moi, qui m'appelle Celuta, je pleure maintenant 
sous le plaqueminier; je suis la fille de la femme qui repose sous 
le gazon." 23 

L' Indienne, en chantant ces paroles, tremblait, et les larmes 
coulaient comme des perles le long de ses joues; elle ne savait 
pourquoi, a la vue du frere d'Amelie, elle se souvenait des 
derniers conseils de sa mere. Rene sentait lui-meme ses yeux 
humides. La famille partageait l'emotion de Celuta; et toute la 
cabane pleurait de regret, d 'amour et de vertu. 24 Tel fut le repas 
du matin. 

A peine cette scene etait terminee, qu 'un guerrier parut : il 
apportait une hache en present a l'etranger, pour qu'il se batit 
une cabane. II conduisait en meme temps une vierge plus belle 
et plus jeune que Chryseis, afin que le nouveau fils de Chactas 
commencat un lit dans le desert. 25 Celuta baissa la tete dans son 



23 Je n'ai pu retrouver la ''source" de cette chanson. Chateaubriand 
n 'exprime-t-il pas simplement ici sa conception du role que doit jouer la 
femme au foyer domestique? 

24 Voici une phrase qui sans aucun doute a ete ecrite a une date ou. 
Chateaubriand etait encore en plein sous 1 'influence de la ' ' sensibilite ' ' du 
XVIIIe siecle, probablement pendant son sejour a Londres? 

25 C 'etait la un usage repandu chez plusieurs tribus indiennes et une 
aventure qui aurait pu arriver a Chateaubriand lui-meme au cours de son 
voyage. Perrin du Lac qui, dans une circonstance analogue, se montra 
moins reserve que Bene nous confirme que 1 'habitude etait d'offrir un 
present aux Indiennes dont on dedaignait les charmes. "Selon leur usage, 
ils me presentment quelques-unes de leurs filles, qui sont presque toutes 
laides et malpropres. Je n 'acceptai que celle du grand chef a qui j 'aurais 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LI V RES I ET II 245 

sein ; Chactas, averti de ce qui se passait, devina le reste. Alors, 
d'une voix courroucee : "Veut-on faire un affront a Chactas? 
Le guerrier adopte par moi ne doit pas etre traite comme un 
etranger. ' ' 

Cependant Chactas couseilla au frere d'Amelie de faire un 
present a Mila, dans la crainte d'offenser une famille puissante 
qui comptait plus de trente tombeaux. 26 Rene obeit : il ouvrit 
une cassette de bois de papaya ; il en tira un collier de porcelaine : 
ce collier etait monte sur un fil de la racine du tremble, appele 
l'arbre du refus, parce que la racine se desseche autour de son 
tronc. 27 Rene faisait ces choses par le conseil de Chactas; il 
donna le collier a Mila, a peine agee de quatorze ans, en lui 
disant: "Heureux votre pere et votre mere! plus heureux celui 
qui sera votre epoux!" Mila jeta le collier a terre. 

La paix descendit sur la cabane le reste de la journee; 
Celuta retourna chez son frere Outougamiz; Mila chez ses par- 
ents ; et Chactas alia converser avec les sachems. 



craint de deplaire par mon refus, et fis a toutes de petits cadeaux que j 'avais 
apportes dans cette intention et qui me parurent les flatter plus que toutes 
les caresses que j 'aurais pu leur faire" (Perrin du Lac, Voyage dans les deux 
Louisianes, Paris, 1805, p. 202). Carver nous donne des renseignements du 
meme genre. "I observed that this people (les Killistinoes, pres du lac 
Bourbon) still continued a custom, that appeared to have been universal 
before any of them became acquainted with the manners of the Europeans, 
that of complimenting strangers with the company of their wives; and this 
is not only practiced by the lower ranks, but by the chiefs themselves, who 
esteem it the greatest proof of courtesy they can give a stranger" (Carver, 
p. 131). II se peut, de plus, que Chateaubriand fasse allusion ici a un fait 
plus precis. C'est ainsi que la grande Soleille amene dans la tente de 
Le Page du Pratz " sa fille unique agee de 14 a 15 ans, jolie et bien faite" 
et que ce dernier la renvoie apres lui avoir fait un present (Le Page du 
Pratz, II, 307). 

26 Les voyageurs americains, et en particulier ceux que connait Chateau- 
briand, Charlevoix, Lafitau, Carver, parlent tous de la fete des morts que 
Chateaubriand a lui-meme decrite dans Atala. On y voit que les Indiens 
qui ensevelissaient leurs morts dans des tombes separees, reunissaient ensuite 
les ossements dans une fosse commune. Aucune famille chez eux ne pouvait 
done compter trente tombeaux. II est evident que Chateaubriand se souvient 
ici bien plus des tombes seigneuriales des eglises de France que des recits 
de voyage. 

27 Toutes les affaires se traitent par des branches, et par des colliers 
de porcelaine, qui leur tiennent lieu de paroles, d'ecritures, et de contrats 
(Lafitau, I, 502). Lafitau decrit tres longuement a ce propos ces colliers 
formes de petits coquillages, concha venerea, que les Indiens ramassaient sur 
les cotes de la Virginie. Le symbole de la racine de tremble me parait du 
a Chateaubriand. 



246 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Le soir, on se rassembla sous les tulipiers : la f amille prit un 
repas sur l'herbe semee de verveine empourpree et de ruelles 
d'or. 28 Le chant monotone du will-poor-will, le bourdonnement 
du colibri, le cri des dindes sauvages, les soupirs de la nonpareille, 
le sifflement de l'oiseau moqueur, le sourd mugissement des 
crocodiles dans les glaieuls formaient l'inexprimable symphonie 
de ce banquet. 29 

Echappes du royaume des ombres, et descendant sans bruit a 
la clarte des etoiles, les songes venaient se reposer sur le toit des 
sauvages. C'etait l'heure ou le cyclope europeen rallume la 
fournaise dont la flamme se dilate ou se concentre aux mouve- 
ments de larges soufflets. Tout a coup un cri retentit: reveilles 
en sursaut dans la cabane, les f emmes se dressent sur leur couche ; 
Chactas prete 1 'oreille ; une Indienne souleve 1 'ecorce de la porte, 
et ces mots se pressent sur ses levres: "Les mediants manitous 
sont dechaines : sortez ! sortez ! " La f amille se precipite sous les 
tulipiers. 30 

28 Here is likewise a new and beautiful species of verbena, with decum- 
bent branches and lacerated deep green leaves; the branches terminate with 
corymbi of violet blue flowers (Bartram, p. 434). Le ruelles d'or sont 
probablement un souvenir des prairies de Bretagne. 

29 Ce paragraphe est un resume de plusieurs longs developpements de 
Bartram: "Our rural table was spread under the shadow of Oaks, Palms, 
and Sweet Bays, fanned by the lively salubrious breezes wafted from the 
spicy groves. Our music was the responsive love-lays of the nonpareil, and 
the alert and gay mock bird; whilst the brilliant humming-bird darted 
through the flowery groves, suspended in air, and drank nectar from the 
flowers of the yellow Jasmine, Andromeda, and sweet Azalea" (Bartram, 
p. 59). Un autre passage de Bartram a fourni egalement quelques traits: 
"How harmonious and soothing is this native sylvan music, now at still 
evening. Inexpressibly tender are the responsive cooings of the innocent 
dove, in the fragrant Zanthoxylon groves, and the variable and tuneful 
warbling of the nonpareil, with the more sprightly and elevated strains of 
the blue linnet and golden icterus : this is indeed harmony, even amidst 
the incessant croaking of the frogs: the shades of silent night are made 
more cheerful, with the shrill voice of the whip-poor-will and active mock 
bird" (Bartram, p. 152). Chateaubriand a remplace le coassement des 
grenouilles par le mugissement des crocodiles dont Bartram a parle en 
plusieurs autres endroits (Bartram, pp. 104, 115, 128ff.). Je ne citerai 
qu 'un passage : ' ' But what is yet more surprising to a stranger, is the 
incredible loud and terrifying roar, which they are capable of making, espe- 
cially in the spring season, their breeding time. It most resembles very 
heavy distant thunder, not only shaking the air and waters but causing the 
earth to tremble" (Bartram, p. 117). Pour le cri des dindes sauvages, voir 
egalement Bartram (p. 81), "the cheering converse of the wild turkey-cocks." 

so Est-ce un souvenir d'une gravure de l'ouvrage de Lafitau ou l'on 
apercoit un "esprit" descendant sur le toit de la cabane ou sont endormis 
des Indiens? (Lafitau, I, 345.) 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 247 

La nuit regnait : des images brises ressemblaient, dans leur 
desordre sur le firmament, aux ebauches, d'un peintre dont le 
pincean se serait essaye au hasard sur une toile azuree. Des 
langues de feu livides et mouvantes lechaient la voute du ciel. 
Soudain ces feux s'eteignent; on entend quelque chose de terrible 
passer dans l'obscurite, et du fond des forets s'eleve une voix qui 
n'a rien de l'homme. 31 

Dans ce moment un guerrier se presente a la porte de la 
cabane; il adresse a Chaetas ees paroles precipitees : 32 "Le conseil 
de la nation s 'assemble; les blancs se preparent a lever la haehe 
contre nous ; il leur est arrive de nouveaux soldats. D 'une autre 
part, le trouble est dans la nation : la Femme-Chef. mere du 
jeune Soleil. est en proie aux mauvais genies; Ondoure parait 
possede d'une passion funeste. Le grand pretre parle d 'oracles et 
de songes ; on murmure sourdement contre les Francais que vous 
voulez adopter. Vous etes temoin des prodiges de la nuit : hatez- 
vous de vous rendre au conseil." 

En achevant ces mots, le messager poursuit sa route, et va 
reveiller Adario. Chaetas rentre dans sa cabane ; il suspend a 
son epaule gauche son manteau de peau de martre; il demande 
son baton d'hicory.* surmonte d'une tete de vautour. Miscoue 
avait coupe ce baton dans sa vieillesse ; il l'avait laisse en heritage 
a son fils Outalissi. et celui-ci a son fils Chaetas, qui. appuye sur 
ce sceptre hereditaire, donnait des lecons de sagesse aux jeunes 
chasseurs reunis aux carrefours des forets. Un Indien complete- 
ment arme vient chercher Chaetas et le conduit au conseil. 



31 Dans tout ce passage Chateaubriand me semble utiliser le passage de 
Lafitau sur 1 'initiation des devins, passage qui est illustre par la gravure 
que nous avons signalee note 28. Chez Lafitau, 1 'Esprit "parle d'une voix 
contref aite, semblable a la voix de ceux qui font parler les Marionnettes. ' ' 
Ne serait-ce pas la voix qui n'a rien de l'homme % Quand il arrive, on 
entend "un bruit horrible dans les airs" "et le Devin eteint le feu, car les 
Esprits n 'aiment que les tenebres et 1 'obscurite. ' ' Serait-ce le i ' quelque 
chose de terrible qui passe dans l'obscurite"? Lafitau, I, 346.) 

32 Quoiqu 'il n 'y ait point de temps regie pour la tenue de ces conseils, 
on s'y rend plus communement a la tombee de la nuit ... On avertit en 
particulier pour le conseil ceux qui doivent s'y rendre (Lafitau, I, 478). 
Je n'aurais point signale ces deux rapprochements avec Lafitau, si deux 
paragraphes plus loin, Chateaubriand n 'avait fait de nombreux emprunts au 
meme passage. 

* Espece de noyer. (Note de Chateaubriand.) 



248 LITEBARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Tous les sachems avaient deja pris leur place; les guerriers 
etaient ranges derriere eux; les matrones ayant a leur tete la 
Femme-Chef, mere de l'heritier de la couronne, occupaient les 
sieges qui leur etaient reserves, et au dessous d'elles s'asseyaient 
les pretres. 33 

Adario, 34 chef de la tribu de la Tortue, 35 se leve; inacessible 
a la crainte, insensible a l'esperance, ce sachem se distingue par 
un ardent amour de la patrie ; implacable ennemi des Europeens, 
qui avaient massacre son pere, mais les abhorrant encore plus 
comme tyrans de son pays, il parlait incessamment contre eux 
dans les conseils. Quoiqu'il reverat Chactas et qu'il se plut a 
confesser la superiorite du sachem aveugle, il etait cependant 
presque toujours d'un avis oppose a celui de son vieil ami. 

Les bras pendants et immobiles, les regards attaches a la terre, 
il prononca ce discours : 

' ' Sachems, matrones, guerriers des quatre tribus, ecoutez : 

"Deja l'aloes avait fleuri deux fois, depuis que Ferdinand de 
Soto, l'Espagnol, etait tombe sous la massue de nos ancetres; 38 



33 Dans 1 'ensemble Chateaubriand est d 'accord avec la plupart des 
missionnaires qui ont decrit les moeurs des Indiens. II se sert tres probable- 
ment de Lafitau, car la longue dissertation que ce dernier consacre au gou- 
vernement des Indiens (I, 469) est immediatement precedee d'un para- 
graphe sur la tribu de la Tortue dont Adario est le chef. Lafitau indique 
que chaque tribu ou famille a son chef; a cote de ce chef trouve un adjoint 
qui partage la souverainete avec lui; vient ensuite un senat compose de 
vieillards, puis le corps des guerriers et enfin celui des femmes. Chacune de 
ces trois classes a ses conseils separes et delibere a part et en secret "sauf 
pour les affaires de la nation qui demandent quelque solennite " : II s 'agit 
evidemment ici d'une affaire de ce genre. Chateaubriand a ajoute les 
pretres, se souvenant probablement d'un passage de Bartram: " There is in 
every town or tribe a high priest, usually besides several juniors or gradu- 
ates ..." Bartram decrit en grand detail leur costume (Bartram, p. 495). 

s* C 'est le nom du sauvage philosophe dans les Dialogues du baron de 
Lahontan avec un sauvage de bon sens qui a voyage, La Haye, 1703. Voir 
sur cet auteur Chinard, G., VAmerique et le reve exotique (Paris, 1913), 
p. 167. 

35 Chaque village est divise en trois families: scavoir, la famille du 
Loup, celle de l'Ours, et celle de la Tortue. Chaque famille a son chef, ses 
Agoianders, ses anciens, ses guerriers (Lafitau, I, 464). 

36 On trouve chez Le Page du Pratz (III, chap. 12), un long discours 
prononce par le cacique du village de la Pomme, apres que Chepar eut 
ordonne d'evacuer le village. C'est le discours qui precede la revolte 
generale des Natchez. II contient un expose du plan de. la conspiration, est 
sensiblement plus long que le discours d 'Adario et ne contient pas d 'expose 
historique sur la conquete du nouveau monde par les Europeens. Chateau- 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, L1VBES I ET II 249 

deja nous etions alles combattre les tyrans loin de nos bords, 
lorsque le Meschacebe raconta a nos vieillards qu'une nation 
etrangere descendait ses sources. Ce peuple n'etait point de la 
race superbe des guerriers de feu !* Sa gaiete, sa bravoure, son 
amour des f orets et de nos usages, le f aisaient cherir. Nos cabanes 
eurent pitie de sa misere, et donnerent a Lasallef tout ce qu'elles 
pouvaient lui offrir. 37 

"Bientot la nation legere aborde de toutes parts sur nos rives, 
d 'Iberville, le dompteur des flots, fixe ses guerriers au centre 
meme de notre pays. Je m 'opposai a cet etablissement ; mais vous 
attachates le grand canot de l'etranger aux buissons, ensuite aux 
arbres, puis aux rochers, enfin a la grande montagne; et vous 
asseyant sur la chaine qui liait le canot des blancs a, nos fleuves, 
vous ne voulutes plus faire qu'un peuple avec le peuple de 
1 'Aurore. 

"Vous savez, 6 sachems, quelle fut la recompense de votre 
hospitalite ! Vous prites les armes, mais trop prompts a les 
quitter vous rallumates le calumet de paix! Hommes imprud- 
ents ! La f umee de la servitude et celle de 1 'independance pou- 
vaient-elles sortir de ce meme calumet? II faut une tete plus 
forte que celle de l'esclave pour n'etre point troublee par le 
parfum de la liberte ! 38 



briand s'en est servi pour le reeit de la conspiration de la Grande Cave 
(Suite des Natchez). H a cependant emprunte a Le Page du Pratz pour 
cette partie plusieurs indications. 

* Les Espagnols. (Note de Cliateaiibriand.) 

f II descendit le premier le Missisipi. (Note de Clxateauoriand.) 

37 Eesume de la conquete de la Louisiane que Chateaubriand a pu trouver 
n'inrporte ou, probablement chez Le Page du Pratz. C'est le 30 juin 1542 
que Ferdinand de Soto mourut de fievre et d 'epuisement, apres avoir conibattu 
les Indiens pendant trois ans dans l'entreprise d'atteindre le Mexique par 
terre en partant de la Floride. Les survivants de son expedition durent 
se rembarquer poursuivis par les Indiens jusqu'a la mer. II n'est done pas 
exact de dire qu'il soit tombe sous la hache des Natchez. C'est en 1681 que 
Robert Cavelier de La Salle, parti de la Nouvelle France, arrive au Missis- 
sipi, et le 9 avril 1682 qu'il prend possession de la Louisiane apres avoir 
descendu le fleuve jusqu'a son embouchure. Le proces verbal du notaire 
La Metairie qui 1 'accompagnait, constate en effet le bon accueil qu'il regut 
le 20 mars 1682 au village des Taensas, eloigne de deux lieues de celui des 
Natchez. 

38 La Salle revint par mer en 1684 avec 300 hommes. On connait le sort 
de la malheureuse expedition. La Salle fut assassine par les Indict sa 



250 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

"A peine avez-vous enterre la hache,* a peine, vous reposant 
sur la foi des colliers, f commencez-vous a eclaircir la chaine 
d 'union, que, par la plus noire des perfidies, le chef actuel des 
Francais veut vous attaquer sur vos nattes. La biche n'a pas 
change plus de fois de parure que je n'ai de doigts a cette main 
mutilee en defendant mon pere, depuis que les derniers attentats 
des blancs ont souille nos savanes. 39 Et nous hesitons encore ! 

"Peut-etre, enfants du Soleil, peut-etre comptez-vous changer 
de desert, abandonner a vos oppresseurs la terre de la patrie? 
Mais ou voulez-vous porter vos pas? Au couchant, au levant, 
vers l'etoile immobile, t vers ces regions ou le genie du jour s'assied 
sur la natte de feu,§ partout sont les ennemis de votre race. lis 
ne sont plus, ces temps ou vous pouviez disposer de toutes les 
solitudes, ou tous les fleuves coulaient pour vous seuls. Vos 
tyrans ont demande de nouveaux satellites; ils meditent une 
nouvelle invasion de nos foyers. Mais notre jeunesse est floris- 
sante et nombreuse; n'attendons pas qu'on vienne nous sur- 
prendre et nous egorger comme des f emmes. Mon sang se rallume 



troupe apres avoir ete decimee, fut dispersee. C'est seulement apres la paix 
de Byswick, en 1697, que Le Moyne d 'Iberville recut mission de retrouver 
les bouches du Mississipi. En fevrier 1699, il fonda 1 'etablissement de 
Biloxi, apres avoir ete bien recu par les indigenes. C'est en 1716 qu'a la 
suite du meurtre de quatre Canadiens par les Natchez que Bienville batit 
sur leur territoire Fort Eosalie et signa un traite de paix avec eux. En 1724 
Bienville fut rappele. Son successeur devait etre Perier, dont un des 
premiers actes fut de retablir comme gouverneur au Fort Eosalie le sieur 
Etcheparre, le Chepar de Chateaubriand, qui avait ete destitue par Bienville 
(Le Page du Pratz, III, 231). 

* Faire la paix. (Note de Chateaubriand.) 
t Lettres, contrats, traites, etc. (Note de Chateaubriand.) 
39 Voici une fagon de compter qui ne se trouve chez aucun des voyageurs 
que j'ai consultes. Elle est fort probablement de Chateaubriand. Les 
Indiens designaient en general les annees "par le nom des saisons, et 
surtout de l'hiver. Le nom d'une des saisons supposant dans cette occasion 
pour toutes les quatre ensemble et pour l'annee solaire toute entiere" 
(Lafitau, II, 226). Cependant Chateaubriand est bien dans le ton indien: 
"II repondit que ses ancetres avaient demeure dans son village autant 
d 'annees qu'il avait de cheveux a sa cadenette et qu'ainsi il etait bon qu'ils 
y restassent encore," (Le Page du Pratz, III, 223). II n'est pas admis- 
sible de supposer qu 'un chasseur comme Chateaubriand ait cru que la biche 
avait une ramure. A-t-il pense que biche etait plus "poetique" que cerf? 
L 'expression etoile immobile pour designer l'etoile polaire se retrouve dans 
le Voyage en Amerique, p. 191. 

i Le nerd. § Le midi. (Notes de Chateaubriand.) 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 231 

dans mes veines, ma hache briile a ma ceinture. Natchez, soyez 
dignes de vos peres, et le vieil Adario vous conduit des au- 
jourd'hui aux batailles sanglantes. Puissent les fleuves rouler a 
la grande eau les cadavres des ennemis de ma patrie. Puissiez- 
vous, 6 terre trop genereuse des chairs rouges, etouffer dans votre 
sein le froment empoisonne qu'y jeta la main de la servitude. 
Puissent ces moissons impies, epandues sur la poussiere de nos 
ai'eux, ne porter sur leur tige que les semences de la tombe. " 40 

Ainsi parla Adario. Les guerriers, les matrones, les vieillards 
meme, troubles par sa male eloquence, s 'agitent comme le ble dans 
le boisseau bruyant qui le verse a la meule rapide. Ondoure se 
leve au milieu de l'assemblee. 41 

Le Grand Chef des Natchez, bien qu'il fut encore d'une 
force etonnante, touchait aux dernieres limites de la vieillesse; 
sa plus proche parente, la violente Akansie, 42 etait mere du 
jeune fils qui devait heriter du rang supreme; ainsi l'avait 
regie la loi de l'Etat. 43 Akansie nourrissait au fond de son 
coeur une passion criminelle pour Ondoure, un des principaux 
guerriers de la nation; mais Ondoure, au lieu de repondre a 
l'amour d 'Akansie, brulait pour Celuta, dont le coeur com- 
mencait a incliner vers l'etranger, hote du venerable Chactas. 



40 « t Prof aner les tombes des Indiens est regarde comme 1 'hostilite la plus 
brutale et comme la plus cruelle marque de 1 'inimitie, ' ' dit Lafitau (II, 
432). C'etait la un des griefs principaux des Natchez contre Chepar. 
Quand il voulut faire evacuer le village de la Pomme. le chef luifit d 'humbles 
remontrances. "Laissez-moi la consolation de respirer le meme air qu'ils 
respiraient, de fouler la meme terre ou ils marehaient, de m'envelopper de 
leur substance, et d'adoucir mes regrets par la jouissance de leurs tristes 
restes. Je vous le demande au nom du respect que nous portons aux morts : 
ma famille et mes sujets se joignent a moi pour obtenir de vous cette 
justice" (Le Page du Pratz, III, chap. 12). 

41 On trouve le nom d 'un certain Ondhwara 'k, Huron convert!, capture 
chez les Iroquois (Jesuits relations, XXXVI, 123). II s'agit done d'un 
nom qui se rapproche sensiblement d'un nom indien authentique. D 'autre 
part, un des heros d' Oderahi, histoire americaine publiee en 1796, porte le 
nom d'Onteree. Voir Chinard, G., L'Exotisme americain dans I'ceuvre de 
Chateaubriand, (Paris, 1918), p. 140. 

42 Encore un nom de tribu qui devient un nom d'homme. Les Akansas 
sont connus; mais il est interessant de noter que l'on trouve la forme 
Akansis, sur une carte de l'Amerique septentrionale, publiee en 1756 par 
d ' Anville. 

^s Pour 1 'exactitude de ces indications voir livre I, note 17. 



252 LITEBABY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

Devore d 'ambition et d 'amour, ayant contracte tous les vices 
des blancs, qu'il detestait, mais dont il avait l'adresse de se faire 
passer pour l'ami, Ondoure avait pris la resolution de se taire 
dans le conseil, afin de se menager, comme a son ordinaire, entre 
les deux partis; mais son amour pour Celuta et sa jalousie 
naissante contre Rene 1 'entrainerent a prononcer ces paroles : 

"Peres de la patrie, qu 'attendons-nous ? Le grand Adario 
ne nous a-t-il pas trace la route? 44 Je ne vois ici que le sage 
Chactas qui puisse s'opposer a la levee de la hache.* Mais enfin 
le venerable fils d'Outalissi montre un trop grand penchant pour 
les etrangers. Fallait-il qu'il introduisit encore parnii nous cet 
hote dont l'arrivee a ete marquee par des signes funestes? 
Chactas, cette lumiere des peuples, sentira bientot que sa gene- 
rosite 1'emporte au dela des bornes de la prudence; il sera le 
premier a renier ce fils adoptif, a sacrifier, s'il le faut, a la 
patrie. ' ' 

Comme autrefois une bacchante que l'esprit du Dieu avait 
saisie courait echevelee sur les montagnes qu'elle faisait retentir 
de ses hurlements, la jalouse mere du jeune Soleil se sent 
transported de fureur a ces paroles d 'Ondoure: elle y decouvre 
la passion de ce guerrier pour une rivale. Ses joues palissent, 
ses regards lancent des eclairs sur l'homme dont elle est mepri- 
see: tous ses membres sont agites comme d'une fievre ardente. 
Elle veut parler, et les mots manquent a ses pensees. Que 
va-t-elle dire? que va-t-elle proposer au conseil? La guerre ou 
la paix ? Exigera-t-elle la mort ou le bannissement de 1 'etranger 
qui augmente l'amour d 'Ondoure pour la fille de Tabamica? 
Demandera-t-elle, au contraire, l'adoption du nouveau fils de 
Chactas, afin de desoler, par la presence de Rene, l'ingrat qui la 
dedaigne, afin de lui faire eprouver une partie des tourments 
qu'elle endure? Ces paroles tombent de ses levres decolorees 
et tremblantes: 



44 La paix etant ainsi rompue, ou toutes les mesures etant bien con- 
certees, pour la rompre, on leve publiquement la Hache, on Penvoye porter 
solennellement selon la coutume aux nations alliees (Lafitau, II, 172). 

* La guerre. (Note de Chateaubriand.) 



CHATEAUBBIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 253 

"Vieillards insenses, n'avez-vous point songe au danger de 
la presence des Europeans parmi nous? Avez-vous des secrets 
pour rendre le sein des f emmes aussi f roid que le votre ? Lorsque 
la vierge trompee sera comme le poisson que le filet a jete palpi- 
tant sur le sable aride ; lorsque 1 'epouse aura trahi 1 'epoux de sa 
couehe; lorsque la mere, oubliant son fils, suivra eperdue dans 
les forets le guerrier qui l'entraine, vous reconnaitrez, mais trop 
tard, votre imprudence. 45 Reveillez-vous de l'assoupissement de 
vos annees! Oui, il faut du sang aujourd'hui ! La guerre! il 
f aut de sang ! les manitous, 1 'ordonnent ! un feu devorant coule 
dans tous les cceurs. Ne consultez point les entrailles de l'ours 
sacre : les vceux, les prieres, les autels, sont inutiles a nos maux ! ' ' 

Elle dit ; sa couronne de plumes et de neurs tombe de sa tete. 
Comme un pavot frappe des rayons du soleil se penche vers 
la terre et laisse echapper de sa tige les gouttes ameres du som- 
meil; ainsi la femme jalouse, devoree par les feux de 1 'amour, 
baisse son front, dont la mort semble epancher les sueurs 
glacees. 46 La confusion regne dans l'assemblee; une epaisse 
fumee, repandue par les esprits du mal, remplit la salle de tene- 
bres; on entend les cris des matrones, les mouvements des 
guerriers, les voix des vieillards. Ainsi, dans un atelier, des 
ouvriers preparent les laines d 'Albion ou de l'lberie; ceux-ci 
battent les toisons poudreuses, ceux-la les transforment en de 
merveilleux tissus; plusieurs les plongent dans la pourpre de 
Tyr ou dans l'azur de Tlndostan; mais si quel que main mal 



45 Les Frangais entretenaient en effet des relations suivies avec les filles 
des villages environnants. Les Natchez semblaient d'ailleurs s 'accommoder 
parfaitement de cette situation. Le discours du chef dans Le Page du 
Pratz indique cependant que certains Indiens s'en montraient peu satis- 
faits: "Les marchandises des Frangais font plaisir a la jeunesse; mais 
en effet a quoi tout cela sert-il sinon a debaucher les nlles, et a corrompre 
le sang de la nation, et a les rendre glorieuses et faineantes?" (Le Page 
du Pratz, III, 238). 

46 Souvenir evident de la mort d 'Euryale dans Virgile : 

Volvitur Euryalus leto pulchrosque per artus 
It cruor in que umeros cervix collapsa recumbit: 
Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro 
Languescit moriens, lassove papavera collo 
Demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur. 

— Eneide, ix, 433. 



254 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

assuree vient a repandre sur la flamme la liqueur des cuves bru- 
lantes, une vapeur s'eleve avec un sifflement dans les salles, et 
des clameurs sortent de cette soudaine nuit. 47 

Toutes les esperanees se tournaient vers Chactas; lui seul 
pouvait retablir le calme; il annonce par un signe qu'il va se 
faire entendre. L'assemblee devient immobile et muette, et 
l'orateur, qui n'a pas encore parle, semble deja faire porter aux 
passions les chaines de sa paisible eloquence. 

II se leve : sa tete couronnee de cheveux argentes, un peu 
balancee par la vieillesse et par d 'attendrissants souvenirs, 
ressemble a l'etoile du soir, qui parait trembler avant de se 
plonger dans les nots de l'Ocean. Adressant son discours a son 
ami Adario, Chactas s'exprime de la sorte: 

"Mon frere lAigle, vos paroles ont l'abondance des grandes 
eaux, et les cypres de la savane sont enracines moins f ortement 
que vous sur les tombeaux de nos peres. Je sais aussi les injus- 
tices des Wanes ; mon coeur s 'en est afflige. Mais sommes-nous 
certains que nous n'avons rien a nous reprocher nous-meme? 
Avons-nous fait tout ce que nous avons pu pour demeurer 
libres? Est-ce avec des mains pures que nous pretendons lever 
la hache d'Areskoui? Mes enfants (car mon age et mon amour 
pour vous me permettent de vous donner ce nom), je deplore la 
perte de l'innocente simplicite qui faisait la beaute de nos 
cabanes. Qu'auraient dit nos peres, s'ils avaient decouvert dans 
une matrone les signes qui viennent de troubler le conseil? 
Femme, portez ailleurs l'egarement de vos esprits; ne venez 
point au milieu des sachems, avec le souffle de vos passions tirer 
des plaintes du feuillage netri des vieux chenes. 



47 II peut j avoir la, un souvenir personnel d ? un accident arrive au cours 
d'une visite dans une fabrique de tissus que Chateaubriand a pu faire 
durant son exil en Angleterre. On peut y voir aussi un rajeunissement 
d'une comparaison de la Jerusalem delivree: 

Cosi nel cavo ramo umor ehe bolle 

Per troppo foco, entro gorgoglia e fuma; 

Ne capendo in se stesso, alfin s'estolle 

Sovra gli orli del vaso, e inonda e spuma. 

Kon bastano a frenare il vulgo folle 

Que' pochi a cui la mente il vero alluma . . . 

— Jerusalem delivree, VIII, 74. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 255 

"Et toi, jeune chef, qui a ose prendre la parole avant les 
vieillards, erois-tu done tromper Chactas? Tremble que je ne 
devoile ton ame, aussi creuse que le rocher oii se renferme Tours 
du Labrador. 

" Preparons-nous aux jeux d'Areskoui, exercons notre jeunesse, 
faisons des alliances avec nos puissants voisins; mais aupara- 
vant prenons les sentiers de la paix; renouons la chaine d 'alliance 
avec Chepar; qu'il parle dans la verite de son cceur, qu'il dise 
dans quel dessein il a rassemble ses guerriers. Mettons les mani- 
tous equitables de notre cote; et si nous sommes enfin forces a 
lever la hache, nous combattrons avec 1 'assurance de la victoire 
ou d'une mort sainte, la plus belle et la plus certaine des 
delivrances. J'ai dit." 48 

Chactas jette un collier bleu, symbole de paix, au milieu de 
l'assemblee, et se rassied. 49 Tous les guerriers, etaient emus: 
' ' Quelle experience ! disaient les uns ; quelle douceur et quelle 
autorite ! disaient les autres. Jamais on ne retrouvera un tel 
sachem. II sait la langue des f orets ; il connait tous les tombeaux 
qui servent de limit es aux peuples, tous les fleuves qui separent 
les nations. Nos peres ont ete plus heureux que nous : ils ont 
passe, leur vie avec la sagesse; nous, nous ne le verrons que 
mourir. " Ainsi parlaient les guerriers. 

L 'avis de Chactas fut adopte : quatre deputes portant le calu- 
met de paix furent envoy es au fort Rosalie. Mais Areskoui, 
fidele aux ordres de Satan, riant d'un rire farouche, suivait a 
quelque distance les messagers de paix, avec la trahison, la peur, 
la fuite, les douleurs et la mort. 

Cependant le prince des enfers etait arrive aux extremites du 
monde, sous le pole dont l'intrepide Cook mesura la circonference 



48 C 'est a peu pres la conclusion du vieux cacique chez Le Page du 
Pratz (III, 273), mais on ne peut trouver de rapprochement formel. 

49 La porcelaine pour les affaires est ordinairement toute blanche. On 
en trouve aussi d'un violet obscur plus recherchee que la premiere. C'est 
avec des colliers de porcelaines que les sauvages conservent leurs annales 
(Lafitau, I, 502). Charlevoix a donne a peu pres les memes indications, 
en ajoutant que quelquefois les Indiens peignaient les grains de porcelaine: 
"du moins est-il certain que l'on voit souvent des colliers rouges quand 
il s'agit de la guerre" (Charlevoix, III, 210). 



256 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

a travers les vents et les tempetes. La, au milieu des terres 
australes qu'une barriere de glaces derobe a la curiosite des 
homines, s'eleve une montagne qui surpasse en hauteur les som- 
mets les plus eleves des Andes dans le nouveau monde, ou du 
Thibet dans l'antique Asie. 50 

Sur cette montagne est bati un palais, ouvrage des puissances 
infernales. Ce palais a mille portiques d'airain, les moindres 
bruits viennent frapper les domes de cet edifice, dont le silence 
n'a jamais franchi le seuil. 51 

Au centre du monument est une voute tournee en spirale 
comme une conque, et faite de telle sorte que tous les sons qui 
penetrent dans le palais y aboutissent : mais, par un effet du 
genie de 1 'architects des mensonges, la plupart de ces sons se 
trouvent faussement reproduits; souvent une legere rumeur 
s'enfle et gronde en entrant par la voie preparee aux eclats du 
tonnerre, tandis que les roulements de la foudre expirent en 
passant par les routes sinueuses destinees aux faibles bruits. 

C'est la, que Poreille placee a l'ouverture de cet immense 
echo, est assise sur une trone retentissant un demon, la Renommee. 
Cette puissante fille de Satan et de l'orgueil, naquit autrefois 
pour annoncer le mal: avant le jour ou Lucifer leva l'etendard 
contre le Tout-Puissant, la Renommee etait inconnue. Si un 



so Ce sont les monts Hyperboreens des anciens geographes. 
si Dans les Martyrs (VIII, note 19), Chateaubriand se montre tres fier 
d 'avoir donne une description du palais de Satan qui ne ressemble point 
au Pandemonium de Milton. II se peut qu'ici il ait fait quelques emprunts 
a Milton: 

Anon out of the earth a fabric huge 
Eose, like an exhalation, with the sound 
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet. 
Built like a temple, where pilasters round 
Were set, and doric pillars overlaid 
With golden architrave . . . 

— Paradis perdu, I. 
Carver avait decrit une grotte naturelle qui presente quelque ressemblance 
avec ce palais. "The Indians term it Wakon-teebe, that is, the Dwelling 
of the Great Spirit. . . . About twenty feet from the entrance begins a 
lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable 
distance. I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of it with my 
utmost strength : I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstand- 
ing it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise 
that reverberated through all those gloomy regions" (Carver, p. 64). 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 2.57 

monde venait a s'animer ou a s'eteindre; si l'Eternel avait tire 
un univers du neant, ou replonge un de ses ouvrages dans le 
Chaos; s'il avait jete des soleils dans l'espace, cree un nouvel 
ordre de seraphins, essay e la bonte d'une lumiere. toutes ees 
choses etaient aussitot connues dans le ciel par un sentiment 
intime d 'admiration et d 'amour, par le chant mysterieux de la 
celeste Jerusalem. Mais apres la rebellion des mauvais anges, 
la Renommee usurpa la place de cette intuition divine. Bientot 
precipitee aux enfers, ce fut elle qui publia dans l'abime la 
naissance de notre globe, et qui porta l'ennemi de Dieu a tenter 
la chute de l'homme. Elle vint sur la terre avec la Mort, et des 
ce moment elle etablit sa demeure sur la montagne, ou elle entend 
et repete confusement ce qui se passe sur la terre, aux enfers 
et dans les cieux. 

Satan arrive au palais, penetre jusqu'au lieu ou veillait la 
Renommee : 

"Ma fille, lui dit-il, est-ce ainsi que tu me sers? Peux-tu 
ignorer les projets que je medite ? Toi seule n'as point paru dans 
l'assemblee des puissances infernales. Cependant, fille ingrate, 
pour qui travaille-je en ce moment, si ce n 'est pour toi? Lorsque 
l'Orgueil, mon premier amour, te donna naissance, je te pris sur 
mes genoux, je te prodiguai les caresses d'un pere. Hate-toi done 
de me prouver que tu n'as pas rompu les liens qui nous unissent. 
Viens, suis-moi ; le temps presse ; il f aut que tu paries, il f aut que 
tu repetes ce que je t 'apprendrai ; ton silence peut mettre en 
danger mon empire." 

Le demon de la Renommee, souriant au prince des tenebres, 
lui repond d 'une voix eclatante : 

"0 mon pere! je n'ai pas rompu les liens qui nous unissent. 
J 'ai entendu les bruits repandus par toi chez les Natchez, j 'ai vu 
avec transport les grandes choses que tu prepares; mais il me 
venait dans ce moment d'autres bruits de la terre ; j 'etais occupee 
a redire au monde la gloire d'un monarque de l'Europe.* Ces 
Francais m'accablent de leurs merveilles; il me faudrait des 



* Louis XIV. (Note de Chateaubriand.) 



258 LITEBAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

siecles pour les entendre et les raconter. Cependant je suis prete 
a te suivre, et j 'abandonne tout pour servir tes desseins. ' ' 52 

En achevant ces mots, la Renommee descend de son trone: 
de toutes les voutes, de tous les domes, de tous les souterrains du 
palais ebranle, s'echappent des sons confus et discordants: tels 
sont les rugissements d'un troupeau de lions lorsque, la gueule 
enflammee, la langue pendante, ils elevent la voix durant une 
secheresse, dans l'aridite des sables africains. 

Satan et la Renommee sortent du sonore edifice, s'abattent 
comme deux aigles au pied de la montagne, ou la Nuit leur amene 
un char. Ils y montent. Le Renommee saisit les renes qui 
flottaient embarrassees dans les ailes des deux coursiers; demon 
fantastique, dans les tenebres elle ressemble a un geant; a la 
lumiere elle n'est plus qu'un pygmee. L'Etonnement la pre- 
cede, l'Envie la suit de pres, et l'Admiration l'accompagne de 
loin. 

Le couple pervers f ranchit ces mers inexplorees qui s 'etendent 
entre la coupole de glace et ces terres que n'avaient point encore 
nominees les Cook et les La Perouse. La Renommee, dirigeant 
ses coursiers sur la Croix du Sud, tourne le dos a ces constella- 
tions australes qu'un ceil humain ne vit jamais; puis, par le 
conseil de Satan, de peur d'etre apercue par l'ange qui garde 
l'Asie, au lieu de remonter a l'Ocean Pacifique, elle descend vers 
l'Orient, pour voler sur la plaine humide qui separe l'Afrique 
du nouveau continent. Elle ne voit point O-Ta'iti avec ses 
palmiers, ses chants, ses chceurs, ses danses, et ses peuples qui 
recommencaient la Grece. 53 Plus rapide que la pensee, le char 
double le cap ou un ocean si longtemps ignore livre d'eternels 
combats aux mers de l'ancien monde. 54 



52 C 'est la im des premiers anachronismes dont Chateaubriand a parle 
dans sa preface. Louis XIV etait deja mort au moment ou les Francais 
s 'etablissent aux Natchez (1716). Au moment "du massacre de la colonie 
des Natchez, a la Louisiane, en 1727," la Renommee avait cesse de celebrer 
sa gloire. 

53 Souvenir de Bougainville : Les Natchez devaient comprendre un livre 
de Tahiti. 

s* Les detroits de Magellan. 



CHATEAUBBIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVBES I ET II 259 

Satan et la Renommee laissent loin derriere eux les flammes 
qui s'elevent des Terres Magellaniques, phare lugubre qu'aucune 
main n'allume, et qui brule sans gardien, au bord d'une mer 
sans navigateur. 55 lis vous saluerent, ruines fumantes de Rio 
de Janeiro, monument de ta valeur, 6 mon f ameux compatriote ! 56 

Satan frappe de sa lance ses coursiers haletants, et bientot il 
a passe ce promontoire qui recut jadis une colonie des Cartha- 
ginois. 57 L'Amazone decouvre son immense embouchure, ces 
flots que la Condamine, conduit par la celeste Uranie, visita dans 
sa docte course, et que Humbolt devait illustrer. 58 

A l'instant meme le char traverse la ligne que le soleil brule 
de ses feux, entre dans 1 'autre hemisphere, et laisse sur la 
gauche la triste Cayenne, 59 que l'avenir a marquee pour 1'exil 
et la douleur. Les deux puissances infernales, en perdant de 
vue cette terre qui les fait sourire, volent au dessus des iles 
Caraibes et se trouvent engagees dans Tarchipel du golfe Mexi- 



ss La Terre de feu. 

56 Duguay-Trouin bombarda la ville en 1710. 
• 57 11 s'agit evidemment du periple d'Hannon; Chateaubriand qui en 
parle longuement dans I'Essai sur les revolutions (I, 230), n'indique pas a 
cet endroit l'hypothese qui veut que l'Amerique soit le pays decouvert par le 
voyageur Carthaginois. Dans le Voyage en Amerique (p. 81), il parle apres 
Imlay, A topographical description of the western territory (p. 366) de 
l'hypothese qui ferait aborder les Carthaginois dans l'Amerique du nord. 
Aurait-il emprunte a la relation d 'Ange Pitou dont nous parlous plus bas 
la phrase suivante: "Le savant Arias-Montanus, editeur de la fameuse 
Bible de Philippe II. . . , Postel et d'autres (dit Don Calmet sur la 
Genese, page 39, dissertation sur le pays d'Ophir) ont ete le chercher dans 
l'Amerique et 1'ont place dans le Perou." Voyage a Cayenne (I, 212). 
Mais d 'apres le texte de Chateaubriand, il s'agirait plutot du Bresil que du 
Perou. J 'avoue d 'ailleurs ne pas savoir quel promontoire il veut indiquer ici. 

58 La Condamine effectua son f ameux voyage de 1736 a 1744 et de retour 
a Paris publia la Relation aoregee d'un voyage fait dans I'interieur de 
l'Amerique meridionale, Paris, 1745. II est done parfaitement naturel que 
Chateaubriand parle d'une expedition scientifique qui avait fait tant de 
bruit. Par contre il est plus difficile d 'expliquer qu 'il cite le nom de Hum- 
bolt a cet endroit. Humbolt voyage en Amerique de 1799 a 1804 et ne 
publie le premier volume de sa Relation historique qu'en 1811. Si ce pass- 
age faisait partie du manuscrit des Natchez compose par Chateaubriand 
pendant son exil, il faut admettre que la partie de la phrase qui a trait a 
Humbolt a ete ajoutee au moment de la publication. 

59 La meme remarque pourrait probablement s 'appliquer a, la mention 
de Cayenne. C'est en decembre 1797 que furent deportes les suspects par le 
gouvernement du Directoire. La relation la plus saisissante de leurs epreuves 
est celle d'Ange Pitou, le chansonnier, dont le Voyage a Cayenne (2 vols. 
Paris, 1805), ne fut publie qu 'apres le retour de Chauteaubriand en France. 



260 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

cain. La montueuse Martinique, qui n'etait pas encore soumise 
a la valeur francaise ; 60 la Dominique, conquise par les Anglais 
disparaissaient sous les roues du char. Saint-Domingue, qui 
depuis s 'enivra de richesses, de sang et de liberte ; Saint-Domingue 
dont les destinees devaient etre si extraordinaires, se montrait 
alors en partie sauvage, tel que les intrepides nibustiers, 1 'avaient 
laisse en heritage a la France. 61 Et toi, ile de San Salvador, a 
jamais celebre entre toutes les iles, tu fus decouverte par l'ceil 
de la Renommee, bien qu'une ingrate obscurite ait succede a 
ta gloire. 62 Elevant la tete entre tes soeurs de Bahama, ce fut 
toi qui souris la premiere a Colomb ; ce fut toi qui vis descendre 
de ses vaisseaux l'immortel Genois, comme le fils aine de l'Ocean; 
ce fut sur tes rivages que se visiterent les peuples de l'Occident 
et de l'Aurore, qu'ils se saluerent mutuellement du nom 
d'hommes. Tes rochers retentissaient du bruit d'une musique 
guerriere annoncant cette grande alliance, tandis que Colomb 
tombait a genoux et baisait cette terre, autre moitie de 1 'heritage 
des fils d 'Adam. 

A peine la Renommee a-t-elle quitte San Salvador, qu'elle 
aborde a 1 'isthme des Florides : elle arrete le char, s 'elance avec 
l'archange sur les greves dont la mer se retire. Satan promene 
un moment ses regards sur les forets, comme s'il apercevait deja 
dans ces solitudes des peuples destines a changer la face du 
monde. La Renommee jette un nuage sur son char, etend ses 
ailes, donne une main a son compagnon : tous les deux, renf ermes 
dans un globe de feu, s'elevent a une hauteur demesuree, et 



so J e ne vois pas a quel fait historique s 'applique cette allusion. La 
periode qui s 'etend du traite d 'Utrecht, 1713 a 1744 est la plus paisible 
de l'histoire de la Martinique. Cependant la colonie passa a diverses 
reprises aux mains des Anglais, notamment de 1762 a 1763, de 1793 a la 
paix d 'Amiens, puis de 1809 a 1814. Chateaubriand veut-il rappeler ici le 
souvenir de ce dernier traite qui a rendu une colonie a la France? II fau- 
drait admettre dans ce cas, comme plus haut, que Chateaubriand a remanie 
le texte primitif au moment de la publication. 

si Est-ce une allusion a la revolte des noirs en 1791 et a Toussaint 
Louverture; mais ce dernier ne devint vraiment celebre qu'apres sa capture 
par le general Leclerc en 1802. 

62 Ici Chateaubriand a eu recours a une source impossible a determiner. 
II n'est pas d'histoire des voyages qui ne contienne le recit de ce premier 
debarquement de Colomb, dans des termes presque idgntiques. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 261 

retombent au bord du Meschacebe. La, Satan, quitte sa trompeuse 
fille pour voler a d'autres desseins, tandis qu'elle se hate 
d'executer les ordres de son pere. 

Elle prend la demarche et la contenance d'un vieillard, afin 
de donner un plus grand air de verite a ses paroles. Sa tete se 
depouille, son corps se courbe sous un arc detendu qu'elle tient 
a la main en guise de baton; ses traits ressemblement parfaite- 
ment a ceux du sachem Ondaga, un des plus sages hommes des 
Natchez. 63 Ainsi transforme le demon indiscret va frappant 
de cabane en cabane, racontant le doux penchant de Celuta pour 
Rene, et ajoutant tou jours quelque cir Constance qui eveille la 
curiosite, la haine, l'envie ou l'amour. La jalouse mere du jeune 
Soleil, Akansie, pousse un cri de joie a ces bruits semes par la 
Eenommee, car elle esperait qu 'ainsi rejete de Celuta, Ondoure 
reviendrait peut-etre a l'amante qu'il avait dedaignee ; mais le 
faux vieillard ajoute aussitot qu 'Ondoure est tombe dans le plus 
violent desespoir et qu'il menace les jours de l'etranger. 

Ces dernieres paroles glacent le cceur d 'Akansie. La femme 
infortunee s 'eerie: "Sors de ma cabane, 6 le plus imprudent des 
vieillards! Va continuer ailleurs tes recits insenses. Puissent 
les sachems faire de toi un exemple memorable, et t'arracher 
cette langue qui distille le poison." 

En prononcant ces mots, Akansie, nouvelle Medee, se sent 



63 La source premiere de ce portrait est Virgile : 

" Allecto torvam faciem et furialia membra 
Exuit, in vultus sese transformat aniles 
Et frontem obscenam rugis arat, induit albos 
Cum vitta crines, turn ramum innectit olivae; 
Fit Calybe Junonis anus templique sacerdos 
Et juveni ante oculos his se cum vocibus off ert. ' ' 

— Eneide, vii. 415. 
La source plus probable est un passage de la Jerusalem delivree : 
' ' A costui viene Aletto ; e da lei tolto 

E'l sembiante d'un uom d'antica etade: 
Vota di sangue, empie di crespe il volto, 
Lascia barbuto il labro, e '1 mento rade; 
Dimostra il capo in lunghe tele avvolto; 
La veste oltra '1 ginocchio al pie gli cade; 
La scimitarra al fianco, e '1 tergo carco 
De la f aretra, e ne le mani ha 1 'arco. ' ' 

— Jerusalem delivree, IX, 8. 



262 LITEEAEY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

prete a dechirer ses enfants et a plonger un poignard dans le 
coeur de sa rivale. 

La Renommee quitte la Femme-Chef et va chercher Ondoure. 
Elle le trouva derriere sa cabane, travaillant dans la foret a 
la construction d'un canot d'ecorce de bouleau, fragile nacelle 
destinee a flotter sur le sein des lacs, comme le cygne, dont elle 
imitait la blancheur et la forme. 64 

La Renommee s'avance vers le guerrier, et examine d'abord 
en silence son ouvrage. Contempteur de la vieillesse et des lois, 
Ondoure dit au f aux Ondaga, en le regardant d'un air moqueur: 

"Tu ferais mieux, sachem, d'aller causer avec 'les autres 
hommes dont l'age a affaibli la raison et rendu les penses sem- 
blables a celles des matrones. Tu sais que j 'aime peu les cheveux 
blancs et les longs propos. Eloigne-toi done, de peur qu'en 
batissant ce canot je ne te fasse sentir, sans le vouloir, la pesan- 
teur de mon bras. Je t'etendrai a terre comme un if qui n'a 
plus que 1 'ecorce, et que le vent traverse dans sa course. ' ' 

"Mon fils, semblable au terrible Areskoui," repondit le ruse 
vieillard, "je ne m'etonne pas des propos odieux que tu viens 
de tenir a un pere de la patrie: la colere doit etre dans ton 
coeur, et la vengeance agiter les panaches de ta chevelure. 
Lorsque la perfide Endae, plus belle que l'etoile qui ne marche 
pas,* 65 rejeta autrefois mes presents pour recevoir eeux de 
Mengade, mon coeur brula de la fureur qui possede aujourd'hui 
le tien. Je meconnus mon pere lui-meme, et, dans l'egarement 
de ma raison, je levai mon tomahawkj™ sur celle qui m'avait 



64 Chateaubriand a certainement vu de ces canots s'il s'est approehe des 
Grands Lacs. On peut cependant citer Lafitau: "Lies canots d'ecorce de. 
bouleau sont le chef-d'oeuvre de l'art des sauvages. Eien n'est plus joli 
et plus admirable que ces machines fragiles" (Lafitau, II, 213). Les 
canots indiens peuvent avoir la forme du cygne, ils n'en ont certainement 
jamais la blancheur. Chateaubriand confondrait-il ici 1 'ecorce du bouleau 
avec celle du murier qui constitue la robe de Celuta? 

* L 'etoile polaire. f Massue. (Notes de Chateaubriand.) 

65 Us appellent 1 'etoile polaire, ia te ouattenties, celle qui ne marche 
point, parce qu-'elle a un mouvement invisible a l'oeil (Lafitau, II, 239). 

66 Lafitau (II, 196), comme tous les voyageurs francais que j 'ai con- 
suites, designe toujours par le mot casse-tete cette arme des Indiens. "Le 
casse-tete ou masse d'armes tient lieu d'epee ou de massue." Les voyageurs 
anglais se servent au contraire de tomahawk. 



CHATEAUBRIAND, LES NATCHEZ, LIVEES I ET II 263 

porte dans son sein et qui m'avait donne un nom parmi les 
hommes. Mais Athaensic* plongea bientot ma fleche dans le 
coeur de mon rival et Endae fut le prix de ma victoire. Malgre 
le poids des neiges,f ma memoire a conserve fidelement le souvenir 
de cette aventure comme les colliers gar dent les actions des ai'eux. 67 
Je pardonne a l'impudence de tes paroles. 

A peine la Renommee achevait ce perfide discours, que le fer 
dont Ondoure etait arme echappe a sa main. Les yeux du sau- 
vage se fixent, une ecume sanglante parait et disparait sur ses 
levres; il palit, et ses bras roidis s'agitent a ses cotes. Soudain 
recouvrant ses sens, il bondit comme un torrent du haut d'un 
roc, et disparait. 

Alors le demon de la Renommee reprenant sa forme, s'eleve 
triomphant dans les airs : trois f ois il remplit de son souffle une 
trompette dont les sons aigus dechirent les oreilles. En meme 
temps Satan envoie a Ondoure 1 'Injure et la Vengeance : la pre- 
miere le devance repandant des calomnies qui, comme une huile 
empoisonnee, souillent ce qu'elles ont touche; la seconde le suit, 
enveloppee dans son manteau de sang. Le prince des tenebres 
veut qu'une division eclatante separe a jamais Rene et Ondoure, 68 
et devienne le premier anneau d'une longue chaine de malheurs. 
Cependant Ondoure ne sent pas encore pour Celuta tous les feux 
d'amour qui le bruleront dans la suite et qui l'exciteront a tous 
les crimes ; mais son orgueil et son ambition sont a la f ois blesses ; 
il ne respire que Vengeance. II va exhalant son depit en paroles 
insultantes. 

"Quel est done ce fils de l'etranger qui pretend m'enlever la 
femme de mon choix? Lui donne-t-on, comme a moi, la premiere 
place dans les f estins et la portion la plus honorable de la victime ? 
Ou sont les chevelures des ennemis qu'il a enlevees? Vile chair 



* Genie de la vengeance. f Annees. (Notes de Chateaubriand.) 

67 Le Fisk, ou le tresor public, consiste principalement de ces sortes de 
colliers, qui tiennent lieu, ainsi que je l'ai deja dit, de contrats, d'actes 
publics, et en quelque sorte de fastes, et d'annales ou de registres (Lafitau, 
I, 506; II, 232). 

68 Chateaubriand aurait-il ecrit cette phrase en 1826, "une division qui 
devient le premier anneau d 'une longue chaine ' ' ? Voila une metaphore qui 
ne se suit guere. 



264 LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES 

blanche qui n'as ni pere ni mere, qu'aucune cabane ne reclame! 
lache guerrier a qui je ferai porter le jupon d'ecorce de la vieille 
femme, et que je formerai a filer le nerf de chevreuil. " 69 

Ainsi parlait ce chef, environne d'une legion d'esprits qui 
remplissaient son ame de mille pensees funestes. Lorsque l'au- 
tomne a miiri les vergers, on voit des hommes agrestes, montes 
sur l'arbre cher a la Neustrie, abattre avec de longues perches 
la pomme vermeille, tandis que les jeunes. filles et les jeunes 
laboureurs ramassent pele-mele dans une corbeille les fruits dont 
le jus doit troubler la raison : ainsi les anges du mal jettent 
ensemble leurs dons enivrants dans le sein d'Ondoure.' Jalousie 
insensee! l'amour ne pouvait entrer dans le coeur du frere 
d'Amelie: Celuta aimait seule. Ces passions, de tous cotes non 
partagees, ne promettaient que des malheurs sans ressource et 
sans terme. 70 



69 Situation analogue a celle dans laquelle se trouve Iarbas quand la 
Benommee lui a appris l'amour de Didon pour Enee: 

Et nunc ille Paris, cum semiviro comitatu, 
Moeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentem 
Subnexus, rapto potitur . . . 

— Eneide, iv. 215. 
En meme temps presque tous les voyageurs ont parle de ces Indiens habilles 
en femmes que l'on rencontrait dans un grand nombre de tribus. "II s'est 
trouve des hommes assez laches pour vivre comme des femmes. Chez les 
Illinois, chez les Sioux, a la Louisiane, a la Ploride et dans les Jucatans, il 
y a des jeunes gens qui prennent 1 'habit de femme qu'ils gar dent toute 
leur vie" (Lafitau, I, 52). "Parmi les sauvages, ceux qui lachent pied, ou 
desertent dans une action . . . sont regardes comme l'opprobre du genre 
humain. Les autres leur reprochent tou jours qu'ils ne sont point des 
hommes; mais des vieilles. . . . Ces sortes de gens sont obliges de laisser 
croitre leurs cheveux, et de porter un alJcenan, comme les femmes" (Bossu, 
Nouveaux voyages aux Indes occidentales, Paris, 1768, II, 159). D 'autre 
part Chateaubriand se souvient probablement d'un passage ou Bartram 
resume le discours insultant prononce par un chef Creek devant les Cherokees 
qui avaient lache pied devant 1 'ennemi : ' l He fixed his eyes on the Cherokee 
chiefs, and asked them what right they had to give away their lands, calling 
them old women, and saying they had had long ago obliged them to wear 
the petticoat. ' ' 

70 Le drame humain des Natchez se trouve announce dans cette phrase, 
qui, chose curieuse, pourrait etre appliquee aux tragedies de Bacine encore 
plus qu'aux Natchez. 






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